A Different Destiny
by Litanya
Summary: AU Tai has a secret that he is keeping from everybody, even his sister. Tai and seven others are transported to the digital world, where their adventure only just begins... Taiora, Takari & maybe some others Now Finished
1. Default Chapter

Author's Note: I do not own Digimon or any of the characters from it that appear in this fic. I do, however, own this plot and a few original characters maybe, so please ask for my permission before you use them! This fic occurs before 01, so none of the digimon adventures ever happen in this fic. Oh, and by the way, it's a Taiora and a Takari and probably a Jomi.  
  
Summary: Tai has a huge secret about his past, a secret that nobody knows about. Now he has to protect himself from evil that was disguised as a friend.  
  
A Different Destiny  
  
~DREAM SEQUENCE~  
  
A five year old boy with messy chocolate brown hair and green eyes that seemed to be slowly turning brown watched as his parents started walking with their most trusted friend. It was snowing outside, something that the little boy was pleased with. It was his fifth birthday and he was having a party outside with a few other children that were around his age.  
  
"Rena," he heard his father call out to his nurse who was looking after him and his little sister, "we're going for a walk. Please watch the children and make sure that they don't get into too much trouble." Rena nodded and went on with her duty. She was attempting to get Kari to stop crying, but the little baby wasn't helping her out. Kari was only 6 months old, and the little boy was very proud of his sister. Especially now that she was providing him with a distraction so the he could follow his parents without Rena noticing.  
  
He ran quickly to catch up with his parents and their friend, hoping that he would be able to overhear what they were saying. That was, after all, the only reason that he had followed them. They walked into the forest, the adults still in deep conversation. He was glad that they were in the forest; it provided him with trees to hide behind if they got suspicious that someone was following them. The three adults stopped in the middle of the clearing and the small boy could now hear what they were saying. He quietly hid behind a tree, knowing that they wouldn't be able to see him if they turned around. It sounded like the three were arguing about something.  
  
"The Prince is a courageous young boy, there is no doubt about that, but do you really think that he'll be a good leader once he is older?" his parent's friend asked, his eyes seeming to glint evilly in the dark shadows of the forest, "I mean, he has already shown that he is quite ready to cause trouble and he has no regard for the rules. Will a boy like that be a good leader?"  
  
"Of course he'll be a great leader! Look, he is only 5 years old. Of course he is going to cause trouble! When I was 5 I once burnt down the nursery, and they had to build it up again from scratch! Children cause trouble all of the time; it's their nature. There is no use in us arguing about this now. Let's go back and celebrate his birthday, like we should be doing now," his father told the man, turning to walk back to the castle.  
  
"I'm not really here to argue about it either, *your majesty,*" the King turned around, but it was too late. The man's sword had gone straight through his chest, right where his heart was. The Queen screamed and the boy felt sick. He wanted to go and help his father, but he knew that it would only put himself in danger. He could only keep on watching as the scene unfolded in front of his eyes.  
  
"Gennai, how could you? You are our advisor, why would you do this?" the Queen demanded, turning to face the man, who still had his sword out.  
  
"Well *my Queen,* I found that I have the power to take over this world and there is nothing that you can do about it. Once I get back to the castle it won't be that hard to destroy the little Prince, and the Princess. Then I'll make sure that nobody can ever take the thrown again! I will have complete control of this world and nobody will be able to stop me!" he finished his speech by slitting the Queen's throat, whilst smiling cruelly, "Now all I need to do is to get rid of the two little brats, and my plan will be complete. Well, phase 1 of my plan will be." The watching boy ran, knowing that he had to beat that evil guy back to the castle. He ran swiftly, not making much noise as the snow silenced his movements well. He knew that it was a miracle that he didn't slip, but the snow wasn't very icy. He reached the castle quickly and ran straight up to Rena, who had managed to calm Kari down.  
  
"Rena, the evil guy is coming and he's going to come and kill Kari and me! He-he already hurt mummy and daddy, but he wants to destroy us too! You got to help us get away from here!" Rena looked as though she was going to disregard what the youngster was telling her, but then she took a close look at his face, and saw that he was telling the truth. His eyes already had a haunted look to them, a look that wasn't natural in boys so young.  
  
"If what you're saying is true, then we'd better hurry. You're going to have to leave everything behind. Come with me now," Rena grabbed Kari and they raced indoors. As they passed through the main hallway, the boy glimpsed the calendar. It was June 21st, his birthday. They raced through the castle with Rena looking over her shoulder every five seconds, until they reached a room that the boy had never been allowed in. Rena opened the door and pushed him in, startling him a little.  
  
"Look Prince Tai, you're going to have to look after your little sister. She isn't big enough to walk, so you'll have to carry her. Before you go, take this," Rena held up a silver necklace that had on it a small golden key. At the tip of the key was a small crown and a little number 2 was engraved on it. It was very similar to the necklace that the boy had around his own neck. His key had the number 1 engraved on it though, symbolizing that he was the first child of the royal family. "When little Hikari turns 4, you have to promise me that you'll give her this necklace. You'll have to put it around her neck. You may need to disguise it, but you'll know what to do. Maybe you'll return here someday, but now you need to go to another world. Find some new parents there for you and your sister, people who'll look after you. Now go!" she held up her hand to a screen that was on the wall that was in front of them. He hadn't really noticed his surroundings before, but now he realised that they were in a small room with walls that were completely white. The screen was the only thing in the room.  
  
"Good luck little Prince, maybe I'll see you again," the screen started to glow a turquoise colour and Rena pushed the Prince into it, after handing little Hikari over to him, "Good luck." She whispered again once the two children had disappeared and the screen had stopped glowing, "I hope that you come back here, one day." But the boy never heard those words as he found himself in a park, a long way from home...  
  
~END OF DREAM SEQUENCE~  
  
Tai awoke with a start as his alarm clock started beeping right into his ear. Kari, his little sister was holding it right next to his head, with a cheeky grin on her face.  
  
"It's time to get up Tai. Mum says that you have to get ready for summer camp!" she started dancing around, hyperactive because of her excitement about going to camp. Tai just groaned in response and tried to go back to sleep, but Kari wouldn't turn off the alarm that she was still holding. Finally Tai got up, complaining that it was too early. Kari just smirked at him, looking a bit evil.  
  
"Kari, I already packed for camp and Mum helped me! You've even packed too, so why'd you say that Mum wanted me to pack?" Kari's evil smirk grew wider and she began to giggle at him. Tai got very annoyed at his sister and tried to take the alarm clock off her so that he could stop the radio blurting out an old rock song, but she danced away from him.  
  
"Well, you see, you don't have to pack, but I got bored. Come and play snap with me Tai!" She stopped her dancing and looked at him with the puppy eyes that she had perfected. Tai sighed. How could he say no to her? He forgot about his freaky dream, deciding to decipher it later and pulled himself up off his bed.  
  
"Okay Kari, but make sure that you don't forget to take your cards on camp. I know how much you love them. I'll play one game with you now, before breakfast and then I'll play another game with you on the bus to camp. After all, we don't know anybody else who is going to camp except for Sora, and she can join in on our game. Is that a deal?" Tai smiled as he saw Kari beam at him happily as she nodded.  
  
"Good, then let's play!" they began playing their game, Tai letting Kari win, as he usually did. They could hear their mother making breakfast in the kitchen.  
  
"I win!" Kari shouted happily, just as their mother came in to tell them that their breakfast was ready.  
  
"Good timing! Now, hurry up and eat your breakfast. You don't want to miss the bus to camp," Mrs. Kamiya smiled as she saw Kari jump up and race to the table, eager to be off to camp. Tai stood up slowly, shuffling the cards as he got up. Mrs. Kamiya, or Chris as she was called, was a bit worried. "Are you okay Tai? You seem to be a bit distracted there." Tai looked up from the cards and shrugged his shoulders, as if he was dismissing something from is mind.  
  
"I was just thinking about a strange dream that I had. It was just some memory of mine that decided it wanted to show itself again. It's nothing," Tai smiled, but Chris couldn't help but see the haunted look that was in his eyes. Ever since she and her husband had found Tai sitting in the park with his little sister in his arms, he had had that look in his eyes. It saddened her to know that he had already seen something terrible at his young age, but she couldn't do anything about it. Tai had never told her where they had come from and he had never spoken about what happened to him and little Kari.  
  
"Was it a memory from before you came here?" Chris asked quietly, so Kari wouldn't hear. Tai nodded before putting down the cards and going to eat his breakfast. Chris understood that he didn't want to talk about whatever had happened seven years ago. She just watched the twelve year old sit down and start joking around with his sister whom had already finished her breakfast. Chris smiled again at the sight of the two of them playing around, knowing that they had both seemed to have recovered from their past. Kari didn't even remember it, as she had only been 4 months old when the Kamiyas had adopted her. Chris shook her head from her thoughts and went to eat her own breakfast before it could go cold.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Hey Tai!" he turned around as Sora Takenouchi, his best friend for the past 6 years, called out to him. Sora was just a little bit taller than him, with short auburn hair that was mostly hidden by a sky-blue helmet that was unfastened. Her ruby eyes were sparkling with mischief as she ran up to the Kamiya siblings. Kari turned to her and started giggling hysterically whilst she tried to tell Sora about what had happened that morning. Tai just rolled his eyes and turned away, scanning the crowd of kids that were waiting to get on the bus. A lot of them were his age or a few years younger, Kari being among the youngest, but there were also a few older kids. Tai thought that he recognised a guy with blond hair that was spiked up with a lot of hair gel. He had crystal clear blue eyes that seemed to radiate coolness and he was standing by himself, giving icy looks at people who tried to talk to him. Tai tried to conjure up a name from the depths of his memory and he finally remembered who the guy was. Yamato Ishida, more commonly known as Matt, was one of those guys who thought that they were too cool for anybody else.  
  
Tai's eyes moved on to another person that he thought he recognised. It was a boy who looked about a year younger than himself. The boy, Izzy was the name that popped into Tai's head, was typing away at a lap top computer, almost unaware of what was going on around him. Izzy had dark brown-red hair that was pretty short and brown eyes. He was typing away madly and he seemed to be pretty frustrated with his computer.  
  
Tai's gaze moved to a group of giggling girls. The girls were gathered around 1 girl in particular. She was dressed all in pink, with brown leather cowboy boots and a pink cowboy hat. She had long, honey-coloured brown hair, and soft brown eyes that seemed to shine with sincerity with every word that she said. She was talking at about a mile a minute to the girls around her, and they were all giggling hysterically.  
  
Finally hearing Kari's tale come to an end, Tai turned his attention back to his two companions.  
  
"Well, at least he now knows never to keep an alarm clock within your reach," Sora told Kari, who was still giggling and jumping up and down, "but I guess that you didn't like her story very much Tai. Who do we know that is here?"  
  
"Well, there's that Matt Ishida, you know, the guy who is in our class that keeps to himself all of the time, there's a kid Izzy, the computer-freak genius, he's nice when he's not on his computer. And there's that girl Mimi I think her name is. She's in our class too, but she always hangs around with all of the girls," Tai screwed his face up to show what he thought of that and both Kari and Sora glared at him.  
  
"We're girls too you know Tai," Kari reminded her brother, who was looking a bit scared now. He hesitated before he replied.  
  
"But you two are different! You're cool! You play soccer with us all the time and do interesting things, and you don't just talk like those girls over there," Tai was relieved when both Kari and Sora broke into smiles.  
  
"Don't worry Tai, we know what you meant. Now come on, we're allowed on the bus!" they raced towards the door, wanting to get there first so that they could claim the back seat. They were successful in their goal and they settled down for a long trip to the camp.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
The bus stopped a few more times on the way to the camp, to pick up a few more passengers that lived too far away from the first stop, so by the time they reached the camp it was starting to grow dark. Tai, Sora and Kari yawned as they hopped off the bus, eager to get out into the fresh air.  
  
"Hey guys, do you want to go and have a look around camp now? Before anybody sees us and makes us go inside?" Tai suggested, his eyes gleaming with mischief. Sora's eyes also sparkled mischievously. Kari just nodded, eager to do something that involved moving. They quietly snuck away from the crowds of children at the bus and found themselves facing a large area that was made for kids. There was a big playground, and the three of them quickly hid inside it as the bus moved away. All of the rest of the children at that camp were being ushered inside, as the sky was turning pink. Once the last person had disappeared inside, the three of them waited for five minutes to make sure that nobody else was going to come out, before they climbed out from their hiding place in a tunnel and started to wander around.  
  
The camp was in a valley, so it was surrounded by mountains, but the camp itself was on flat ground. There was a lot of room for all of the activities that the camp had to offer and the three of them were in awe at how the camp owners had managed to fit all of the activities into the space that they had. They were looking at the abseiling place when they ran into another group of children. There were five of them and they were all looking confused.  
  
"What are you guys doing out here? I thought that only Kari, Sora and I were out here," Tai asked, looking at the five new comers to see who they were. He was surprised to see Izzy, Mimi and Matt, along with two others. There was a boy who was a younger version of Matt, who looked to be about Kari's age. He looked sweet and caring and Tai saw his younger sister's eyes light up once they saw him. The other person with them was about a year older than Tai himself. He had short blue hair and black eyes that were magnified by huge glasses. He was carrying a big gray bag that looked as though it carried medical supplies and other things that might be needed in case of emergencies. He looked extremely reliable.  
  
"Well, I don't know what made me come out here. Hey, I think that I know you from somewhere. Have I seen you before?" this question he directed at Tai, who was now really confused. That is, until a memory of a young five year old boy with blue hair popped into his head, but that had been when he was still living with his real parents, so he had to be careful.  
  
"I'm not sure. My name is Taichi Kamiya, but you can just call me Tai," he shook the boys hand, knowing that he wouldn't know him by this name.  
  
"Nice to meet you Tai, my name is Jyou Kido, but you can just call me Joe," the boy told him this whilst pushing his glasses up his nose. Tai smiled as the little boy he didn't know went up to Kari.  
  
"Hi! My name is Takeru Ishida, but everyone calls me T.K. What's your name?" Kari blushed a little, shy at meeting a new person. She looked up at Tai, and he smiled back at her, nodding slightly.  
  
"Hi T.K, my name is Hikari Kamiya, Tai's little sister. Please call me Kari though, I hate the name Hikari," the two little kids started chatting straight away about their schools and teachers and everything that little kids talk about. Tai felt like something was going to happen; that all of them being outside at that moment was special.  
  
"Tai, are you okay? You seem to be off this planet or something," Sora was waving her hand in front of his eyes, and Tai shook his head, closing his eyes for a second.  
  
"It's just. I have this weird feeling that something important is going to happen because we were all pulled here, at this exact moment and. wait a second," his necklace, the special one that marked him as a member of the royal family had started top burn. He took it out from under his shirt and stared at it.  
  
"What's wrong? You're looking at that key thing pretty funny," Joe said looking at the necklace, "I have a feeling that I've seen that, but I don't know where. It seems to be an odd necklace." Tai continued to stare at the key, suddenly feeling extremely homesick for his real home, where Rena was.  
  
"I want to go home," he whispered, but to everybody else it didn't sound like he said that. They all stared at him as he spoke in a completely different language that even Izzy couldn't understand.  
  
"What was that Tai? You just spoke in a different language. Stop doing that and speak in a language that we all understand!" Mimi said angrily, in a voice that was used to being obeyed, "Nobody else here speaks your language, so just stick to ours, okay?" The others just looked at each other and shrugged, but Joe felt that something was not right.  
  
"That. that language sounds so familiar. Does anybody else feel like they know it?" Joe asked. Tai snapped out of his thoughts about his real home at this statement.  
  
"What language?" everyone fell to the ground at Tai's clueless face. They couldn't believe that he had spoken a different language two seconds ago, and then couldn't remember.  
  
"The language that you spoke about two minutes ago, when you were staring at that key. You spoke something that we couldn't understand, and I don't think that the language even exists, although I feel that I've heard it before," it was Izzy this time who spoke, surprising everybody.  
  
"Oh, that. um. yeah. I can sort of speak a different language. but it's not likely to be heard very often here. My parents used to speak it all of the time," Tai wasn't concentrating on what he was saying, his thoughts were still a bit mumbled and he remembered his dream. Kari was looking at him funny.  
  
"Mum and Dad never spoke anything like that as far as I can remember. What do you mean?" Tai heard what she said and realised that he had made a big mistake by saying what he did. But he had dug a hole and now he was going to have to lie in it.  
  
"Um. I'll tell you later Kari, okay? But in a second we're going to have bigger problems. Now, if anybody else can see the flying pieces of metal that are heading straight towards us, please tell me so that I know that I'm not going insane," almost as soon as he had stopped speaking, a metal device flew straight into Tai's hand. It looked familiar to him, as if he had seen it before. It was orange and it had a little screen. On it he could see 8 coloured dots. It looked like a map of where they were, and all of the dots were stationed together on the screen. Tai pressed a button on the small device and it turned into a status screen. At the top of the screen it said AGUMON in big letters. Tai's face broke out into a smile as he remembered his orange dinosaur look-a-like friend. He now knew what the device he was holding was. It was called a digivice.  
  
"What on Earth is this?" Sora muttered, also holding one of the devices, but hers was red. Tai didn't get a chance to reply though because huge tidal wave appeared out of nowhere and transported the 8 children to another world...  
  
End of Chapter 1  
  
Well, I didn't really have a plan for that chapter, but now I know what's going to happen. It's 20 minutes to midnight, so I'd better get going to bed. Please review & tell me what you think! Please! 


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: I do not own Digimon yada yada yada, so I'll just get on with the fic!  
  
A Different Destiny, Chapter 2  
  
Tai groaned as he pulled himself up off the ground.  
  
"Tai, Tai, Tai, I can't believe you're here! Remember me?" Tai smiled at the small pink head with extremely long ears that was bouncing around him, excitement flashing in its eyes.  
  
"How could I forget you Koromon? Long time no see buddy," Tai stood up and Koromon bounced into his arms, "How have you been going?" Koromon beamed up at him, moving himself with his ears to make himself comfortable.  
  
"I've seen better days. The whole place was attacked by an army of evil digimon, and I was lucky to get out alive. Salamon survived too, but she doesn't know that she is supposed to be the Princesses guardian, and she's gone after a little girl who fell down here when you did. Where's the Princess? Is she safe?" Tai sighed, but nodded, which only made Koromon even more excited.  
  
"I have to find the others before they get lost here. Are you ready to help?" Koromon nodded eagerly and they set off to find the other seven children which had been brought to this world.  
  
They hadn't walked very far when they heard a scream that sounded a lot like Mimi. The girl had just awoken from unconsciousness to fins a green plant person staring at her. The plant was small, about only as tall as Mimi's waist. It had big black eyes and a pink flower that was so big it covered all of her head for hair. She had long arms that ended in purple fingers, and Mimi was backing away from her like she was a ghost or something.  
  
"Mimi, I've been waiting for you for ages!" the plantlike person told the screaming girl who was still backing away, "My name is Palmon and I'm your digimon partner!" Palmon tried getting closer to Mimi, but the girl was so frightened that she wouldn't allow the poor digimon to come any closer. Tai and Koromon watched this scene unfold, trying hard to control their laughter. When Mimi backed into a tree though, Tai decided to step in because the poor girl was looking terrified.  
  
"Mimi, it's okay. Palmon isn't going to hurt you, she's your friend. Trust me, she won't hurt you," Mimi looked at Tai, who was still carrying Koromon and nodded.  
  
"O-okay. To tell you the truth I wasn't really too scared, I was just a bit startled," Mimi admitted as she walked back to where Palmon was waiting, "you have a strange creature with you too Tai. Who is it?" Koromon hopped out of Tai's arms and stopped in front of Mimi. He offered her one of his ears to shake and introduced himself.  
  
"My name is Koromon, I'm Tai's digimon partner!" he exclaimed happily. Tai just shook his head slowly. He didn't know where Koromon got his energy, but he sure had a lot of it. Mimi stared at the forest around her as if she was wondering where they were.  
  
"Do you have any idea where we are Tai? This place doesn't look at all like the place where the summer camp is," Mimi was looking confused and Tai didn't really know what to reply.  
  
"Well. we are nowhere near the summer camp, that's why it doesn't look like it. We're actually in a different world, unless these 'digimon' are in our world and we have never seen them before. I think that we have to go this way to get out of the forest, but I'm not too sure," Mimi just nodded in agreement with him and he was a little confused on why she had asked the questions if she already knew the answers.  
  
"Yeah, I think that I saw a clearing in that direction before," she bent down next to Palmon and looked her in the face, "I'm sorry for running away before like that. It was just a shock to see you standing there like that. I'm sure now that we'll be great friends, right Palmon?" the plant digimon looked surprised for a moment before she grinned.  
  
"Of course we will Mimi! That's why I'm here of course! Oh, and to help you and the others try to find the Prince and Princess of the digital world," both Tai and Koromon suddenly turned and looked at Palmon when she had said what they were supposed to be looking for.  
  
"What did you say that we were looking for?"  
  
"The Prince and the Princess of the digital world are the people that we are looking for. They disappeared almost eight years ago, on the Prince's fifth birthday. The King and Queen were found murdered in the forest. Gennai found them as we started to search for the missing children. It looked like a group of digimon of some sort had attacked them. Gennai is leading the search for the missing Royal Children, because he is the only one who knows the signs by which they can be recognised," Tai felt angry as soon as he heard Gennai's name, but he just kept calm. Koromon glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and Tai gave him a warning glance.  
  
"So the children just disappeared without a trace? How sad!" Mimi exclaimed, "and on the Prince's birthday too! Do you think that somebody kidnapped them?"  
  
"We're not entirely sure what happened to them. Renamon, who had been the digimon in charge of them that day, told everybody that she didn't know where they were. She was punished suitably for her failure. Gennai was extremely upset about the disappearance of the children, as he was quite close to them, being the Prince's godfather," Palmon looked really sad when she told this story, but even though tears had begun flowing down her cheeks, she continued on, "This world was safe when the Royal Family was here, but as soon as they disappeared, evil digimon started attacking the rest of the people, and they were forced to leave or die. The situation hasn't improved very much as now it is unsafe to go to certain places at certain times. Evil digimon attack innocent ones and I've lost quite a few friends. We have to help Gennai in his search for the children, they can make the evil digimon turn good again, and I know it! Gennai has been searching and searching for them, without rest, but now that you guys are here, you can help us! We should find the others now and then we can all go to Gennai and see what he thinks!"  
  
"Yes, we can go to Gennai," Tai whispered under his breath, his tone bitter. Mimi looked up from comforting Palmon at his words.  
  
"What did you say Tai?"  
  
"I have to find Kari! She's only young and something bad could happen to her," Tai told her before running off. Mimi screamed at him to slow down, but he ignored her. Sighing she ran after him, making a mental note to hit him once she finally caught up with the running boy. Tai couldn't help but worry about Kari. What would he do if Gennai found her? It was unlikely that he would recognise her, but what if he did? Tai was glad that he had disguised the Princesses key inside a whistle. It would have been bad if he had just given it to her undisguised. He was grateful to Rena for her advice and he hoped that he would be able to help her, whatever situation she was in.  
  
"Tai, wait up! We don't want to get separated again!" Tai had to admit that she had a point there, so he slowed down and waited until she had caught up. As soon as she reached him she hit him over the head with the brown bag that she was carrying, "That was for not waiting! Now we can go." Tai set off again, this time at a slower pace, his eyes scanning the surrounding area for any sign of his little sister.  
  
"Tai! Mimi! Over here!" they turned to see Kari and T.K grinning at them from a clearing that was just off to there left. Tai sighed in relief and raced up to Kari, giving her a great big hug.  
  
"Kari! Don't you ever do that to me again! I thought that you were lost somewhere!" Kari just grinned at her brother's strange behavior.  
  
"Don't worry Tai! I had Salamon here to help me, and I was with T.K, and Patamon was with him. Nothing could have hurt me!" Tai looked and saw Salamon, a digimon that reminded him of a small puppy. She had long ears and a collar was around her neck. She was cream in colour and she looked like she was one tough digimon, but her bright blue eyes were kind, showing that she was a good digimon and faithful to her friends.  
  
Patamon was a golden yellow and white digimon with long crooked ears that acted as wings. He too had bright blue eyes, and looked like a trustworthy digimon. Although he was small, he sure looked like he could win a fight and he would never give up hope. Tai wondered fleetingly why some of the digimon were in their rookie form whilst others were in there in-training form. Koromon was in his in-training form, but Patamon was a rookie. He was distracted by his thoughts by T.K.  
  
"Hey, have you guys seen Matt? We haven't seen him, so I was hoping that you guys have," T.K looked up at them hopefully, and Mimi decided that she would tell him.  
  
"No, we haven't seen him yet, but that's because we were listening to Palmon's explanation of why we are here. I'm sure that Matt's around here somewhere. We'll find him," T.K nodded, determination evident in his eyes.  
  
"Well, let's go then! We have to find Sora, Matt and Joe before they get lost in this forest. We should go this way, the other way can be dangerous and there is thick bushes that are almost impossible to get out of, so if we go that way, we'd get stuck. Let's go!" Tai lead the group, with all of the digimon staring at him except for Koromon.  
  
"How did you know that the other way was blocked? Most digimon don't even know that and some of them have lived in this forest. You've never been here before and yet you know the way!" Patamon asked in his little voice, curiosity getting the best of him. Tai turned for a second to reply.  
  
"I-uh-I don't really know. I just know where I'm going, but I don't know how," the others seemed to be convinced with his response and he felt relieved. The truth was that he remembered the forest; it was the same forest that he had been in on his fifth birthday. It was near the castle, so Tai had often gone there to play with his friends. He shook his memories away and tried to concentrate on where they were going. He knew that when they were found, the other three would also have digimon and he didn't want to come across another digimon that knew who he was. The sky was getting darker as the night began to show itself, and he grew worried that they wouldn't find the others before the night settled in.  
  
"I hope that we find the others before too long. It's not a good thing that we've all split up," Tai looked up as he heard Sora's voice float from a spot in the forest ahead of them.  
  
"I don't care at the minute, I need to find T.K! I only just found him at the camp, and now I have lost him again!" this time it was Matt who had spoken, and T.K ran ahead to find where the voices were coming from.  
  
"T.K, don't go that way! That way is dangerous!" Tai called and he ran after the young boy and Patamon, trying to stop them from entering a big cave, "That's where-" he was cut off by T.K's scream and Patamon's squeal of surprise.  
  
"What's down there?" Kari had appeared at his shoulder and he turned to her, bending down a bit so that she would hear him.  
  
"Something dangerous is in there. Sora and Matt are that way," he told her, pointing in the opposite direction to the one that T.K had gone, "take Salamon and find them, then bring them here to wait outside the cave. Take Mimi with you." Kari was reluctant to leave him, but she nodded anyway and he raced off into the cave, with Koromon in his arms. Inside the cave it was almost pitch black, but Tai could see enough to know what was going on.  
  
The cave that they were in was the home of a very nasty digimon that reminded Tai of a giant spider crossed with a bat. Hence its name was Spiatmon. Spiatmon was just like a giant spider, but it was blind like a bat and it also had wings. It was a navy blue colour, so in the light it would be hard to distinguish. Tai figured that T.K hadn't seen the digimon and had walked straight into it in the darkness. At the moment Patamon was trying to keep Spiatmon from getting to T.K, but his 'boom bubble' attack wasn't even making an impact on the champion digimon. In fact Spiatmon was laughing.  
  
"Come on Koromon, digivolve and help Patamon!" Koromon nodded and hopped down. Tai's digivice activated and Koromon began to glow with an orange light.  
  
"Koromon digivolve to... Agumon!" In Koromon's place stood an orange dinosaur-like digimon which was at the rookie level. Agumon went straight to Patamon's aid and fired at the Spiatmon, surprising the virus type. "Pepper Breath!" Tai went over to T.K and quietly snuck him out of the cave. Spiatmon was too busy warding off the two rookie digimon to notice them escape. He noticed that Kari hadn't gotten back yet, so he turned to T.K.  
  
"Stay here for the minute. I'll be back with Patamon and Agumon in a second. Please stay here, Kari should be back with all of the others soon," T.K nodded, though Tai could tell that he didn't like it. Tai backtracked and was soon back in the cave, making sure that their digimon were okay and motioning to them that they could leave. They had almost reached the exit of the cave when Spiatmon changed his tactic. He had picked up that Tai was standing near where he was fighting the two digimon. He may have been blind, but Spiatmon could still pick up on where things were because of the air wave patterns. He took a guess and attacked Tai instead of Agumon and Patamon.  
  
"Poison web!" Tai froze as he saw the attack coming towards him, but he knew that he couldn't get out of the way anyway. His digivice began to glow again, and Agumon glowed an even brighter orange than he had before.  
  
"Agumon digivolve to.... Greymon!" The smaller orange digimon was replaced by a huge one that was so tall that his head was almost brushing against the roof. He was still orange, but this time his back was covered with horizontal blue stripes. Covering his head was what looked to be a dark brown skull. Greymon was Agumon's champion form.  
  
"Nova Blast!" Spiatmon's attack was burnt to digi-dust.  
  
"You okay Tai?" Greymon asked as he rushed past, carrying Patamon with him. Tai nodded and ran with him, and all three of them managed to escape from the cave unharmed.  
  
"Patamon! You're okay!" T.K exclaimed as he saw the three of them emerge from the cave. Kari and Mimi were with them, with their digimon. Also with them were Sora, Matt, Izzy and Joe. Sora was standing next to a pink bird, which had blue feathers at the top of her head. Matt was holding an in- training digimon that looked like a head with a spike sticking out of the top. Izzy was next to a rookie digimon that looked a lot like a large lady- bird and Joe was next to a rookie too, a digimon that looked like a seal with an orange Mohawk. Greymon de-digivolved back to Agumon and all of the humans except for Tai stared at him.  
  
"That's Koromon?" Kari asked incredulously as she examined Agumon, "I mean, he's grown a LOT from that pink head with ears." Agumon looked extremely put out with her.  
  
"For you information my name is Agumon. Koromon is my in-training form and Greymon is my champion form that I was in just then. And Koromons are not just 'pink heads with ears' thank you very much! We are powerful digimon," he turned his back on Kari, who thought that it just made him even cuter.  
  
"Gomamon? I thought that all of the Gomamon lived near the ocean on the other side of the continent," Tai was surprised to see the seal digimon, they usually preferred the ocean.  
  
"How on Earth did you know that? You sure do seem to know a lot about this place," Mimi commented to Tai, "Firstly you knew which way to go in the forest to avoid the blocked passage, and then you told us that T.K had gone the wrong way and you were right, and now you know where the ocean is! How do you know all of this?" Tai looked uncomfortable or a second, but he answered the question.  
  
"I've been here before. But that doesn't matter and we have to find a place to camp now, before it gets too dark that we can't see a thing. There is a clearing just past these trees here. It's right on the edge of the forest but... I suppose we're going to have to use the clearing. It's just straight ahead that way. You guys go there. I'll get some fire wood," Tai disappeared before they could protest and so the only choice they had was to move towards the clearing.  
  
"Tai's hiding something, I know he is! Kari, do you have any idea when Tai could have come here?" Sora was worried about Tai. He had been her best friend since they were 6 years old and she could tell when he was lying or not telling them everything.  
  
"I don't know. He might have come here when I was really little. I mean, he is four years older than me, he might have come when he was three or four or something," Kari shrugged, worried about her brother too. They soon came to the clearing that Tai had described and Palmon gasped in surprise.  
  
"This is the clearing where the King and Queen-" she was cut off by a mysterious voice.  
  
"Where the King and Queen were murdered," the voice continued. The children and the digimon all stared around, trying to find the source of the voice.  
  
"Who are you? Where are you?" Matt called out, trying to make sure that his voice didn't shake. T.K was clutching his arm tightly, looking around with wide eyes.  
  
"I'm not here to hurt you, so you don't need to worry about that. My name is Deathmon, not a very nice name, but I didn't choose it. I'm standing right in front of you actually, but you can't see me. Only people that have witnessed a murder of someone close to them can see me," the digimon's voice was not evil or sinister; it just sounded like somebody who was used to stating facts, "If I'm right, then none of you will be able to see me. Can anyone see me?" They all shook their heads and that was how Tai found them. He hadn't heard anything that had been said as he had been gathering fire wood, but he saw them shake their heads.  
  
"Why are you all shaking your heads? And who is that digimon that's sitting over there?" he asked as he stacked the fire wood he had gathered at the edge of the clearing. He was trying to push his memories of the murder of his parents out of his head, but as he was in the same clearing they had been killed in, it wasn't very easy.  
  
"You can see him Tai?" Izzy asked him, surprised.  
  
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be able to see him? I'm not blind," Tai said cautiously, wondering where this was going. He had a very bad feeling about it, wherever the conversation was going.  
  
"You must have witnessed a murder then," Deathmon muttered, feeling a bit sorry for the young boy, "And it had to have been someone you cared about. Who did you see get murdered?" Tai stiffened at the question as he felt 16 pairs of eyes on him. He just kept stacking the fire wood for a minute, refusing to answer. Eventually though, he knew he had to answer. And he knew that he had to tell the truth, or at least part of the truth.  
  
"My parents," he mumbled so that they could hardly hear him. They did hear though, and all of them were in shock, except for Kari.  
  
"What are you talking about Tai? Our parents are still alive, we saw them this morning!" Kari was almost hysterical, wondering if their parents had been murdered she hadn't been looking. She was hoping that it wasn't true. Tai sighed before looking up to face Kari.  
  
"Um. you see Kari; the Kamiyas adopted me when I was fi-four. You wouldn't remember it because you were only really little then, about three or four months old," Tai hated having to keep the truth that she was adopted too from her, but at least then if his identity as the prince was revealed, at least Kari would be safe.  
  
"I have to ask this question, I know that it'll cause problems, but I have to ask it. Why did you suggest to the digidestined that you all camp here, when you can barely stand to be in this forest, never mind in this particular clearing?" Deathmon asked, curious to hear the answer. Tai just looked at the ground and shrugged.  
  
"I don't know... it was the first place that popped into my head. And it was nearby. I'll get over it. Why are you here anyway?" Tai headed off any further questions from Palmon and the others. Kari had sat down in the middle of the clearing and looked as if she was trying to tell herself that it was all a dream.  
  
"I'm here to give you these. Of course, you'll have to take them before any of the others will be able to see them. They are your crests, each representing the main characteristic that you possess. You all possess all of these characteristics, but in each of you a different characteristic is stronger than the others. Here, take them, you'll know which crest is who's because they will start to glow when the right person is near. Tai, once you have your crest, I'll need to speak with you for a second," Deathmon's explanation was long and weird, but Tai found that he trusted him. He went over and grabbed 8 long necklaces. One of them immediately started to glow a bright orange. Tai picked that one out of the group and studied it. It was orange and a pointed sun was engraved on it.  
  
"Courage," he mumbled, recognizing the ancient sign for courage. He slipped it around his neck before passing the crests on to Sora. Tai glimpsed that a red glow appeared from the crests, but he didn't get a chance to see what crest she had because he had to talk to Deathmon. They walked to the edge of the clearing where no one would be able to over hear them. Agumon came with them, not willing to leave Tai alone with a force that he himself could not see.  
  
"Prince Tai, I just want to let you know that I know what happened and I'm on your side. Tomorrow Palmon will insist that you go and meet Gennai, so I don't know what'll happen, but do your best to remain undiscovered, okay?" Tai nodded, relieved that someone other than Agumon was on his side.  
  
"Do you know what happened to Rena? Palmon said that she had been suitably punished, but what does that mean?" Tai wanted to know whether he could help out his old nurse, as he was a bit upset at the thought that he had gotten her into trouble. Deathmon nodded.  
  
"She was taken prisoner for a while until she promised that she was loyal to Gennai and to 'the Kingdom.' The promise didn't actually say that she had to be loyal to Gennai, but that was what it meant. She is still loyal to the royal family though, even if she does have to act as though she obeys Gennai's every whim," Deathmon's voice was filled with contempt at what Gennai had done, and Tai was sure that he was on his side.  
  
"Thank you Deathmon, for everything. Now I just have to survive meeting with Gennai without me trying to kill him... I think that that is going to be my toughest test so far," Tai told him, trying to laugh it off, "I'd better get back to the others now, or they'll start to worry. Thank you again Deathmon," Tai started to walk back to the others as Deathmon disappeared into the shadows. As he walked back to the others, Tai sighed and wondered how he had gotten himself into such a big mess...  
  
End of Chapter 2  
  
Well, there's my second installment of A Different Destiny. I hope you enjoyed it. And yes, I do know that it is ironic that a good digimon has an evil name, but sometimes death can be good. Especially when evil dies, so I guess that that was what I was trying to get at. Please review and tell me what you think, I mean, I've typed two chapters in two days. that's 18 pages!! A reviewer has informed me that this story seems to be similar to another fic on the site, but any resemblance to that fic is unintentional, I haven't read any fics quite like this one. This plot is one that I thought of myself and I know of no others that have this storyline. Well, please review, I need your opinions!!! Please!!!! 


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: I do not own Digimon, blah blah blah, but I DO own this plot, and any similarities to any other fic is purely unintentional, as I have never read a fic like this. Please enjoy this third installment of A Different Destiny!!  
  
A Different Destiny, Chapter 3  
  
When Tai arrived back where the others were sitting, he was met with a suspicious silence. Kari was still sitting where she had been when he had left with Deathmon, but this time she was fingering a pink crest. Tai felt uncomfortable about having to lie to her about not being her brother, but he knew that it was for the best. He went and sat beside her, determined to talk to her.  
  
"Hey Kari, what's the matter? You seem to be a bit upset," Tai knew that this probably wasn't the best thing to say, but he also knew that Kari wouldn't blow up at him. She was a calm girl and even when she was angry she expressed it in a calm manner.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me that you weren't my brother? I would have understood, but instead you have to go and tell everyone like that... why didn't you just tell me?" she was still fingering her crest and her questions only made Tai feel even more guilty, if that was possible. She hadn't looked at him since he had told them that he was not her brother. At this point Tai noticed the silence around him and he realised that all of the others were listening to their conversation too.  
  
"I didn't tell you because...because of something that you'll find out about eventually. And besides, your parents told me not to tell you because they thought that it wouldn't be a good thing, so I didn't tell you. It wasn't my choice that all of this happened, I'd prefer to be your brother than to....never mind. I'm going to go and find some food for us all," Tai stood up abruptly and left, noticing the guilty faces of all of the other children as he walked past and they realised that he knew that they had been listening. Agumon joined him in their search for the food bushes that they knew were in the forest somewhere.  
  
"Tai don't go feeling guilty about not being Kari's brother! It's not your fault that all of this happened; it's only the fault of the murderer. You never told me who it was, so I don't know who to blame it on yet, but all of this is their fault, not yours," they walked on in silence for a while, Tai lost in his own thoughts and Agumon unsure of what to say, "Tai do you know where we're going? We seem to be a long way away from camp." Tai was silent for a moment before he replied.  
  
"There's a fruit tree along here that always bears fruit. My parents and I used to come to the tree to get some fruit, and we'd share it with my friends. My dad would always put me on his shoulders and I'd pick the fruit from the tree, with my mother warning us to be careful," Tai's eyes filled with tears as he remembered the family outings that he used to have gone on to this particular tree, "It's always covered in fruit, so there'll be enough for everybody." Agumon just nodded, worried about his partner. They continued to hike through the forest to the fruit tree in silence, each having a different worry on their mind.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Meanwhile, back at the camp, the seven other Chosen children were trying to figure out what the marks on their crests meant. All of the children that is, except for Kari and Sora. The two of them were sitting where Tai had left Kari, both of them a bit upset about the fact that they had been lied to for years. But they didn't blame Tai, not really.  
  
"I suppose it wasn't his fault that he didn't tell you Kari. He probably was afraid that you'd hate him for being in your family when he wasn't a part of it, or that you wouldn't understand. Your parents probably thought that the two of you would be closer if you didn't know that he was adopted. And another reason could just be that he wanted to forget about what happened. You can't really blame him Kari," Sora was also trying to convince herself when she said this and she found that it was actually working. Kari looked up and nodded slowly in agreement.  
  
"I know you're right Sora, it's just that it was a big surprise. I mean, I've known him all of my life and he's always been my brother, but now I find out that he isn't. He's probably feeling guilty now that he didn't tell me," Kari continued to play with her crest, but she didn't understand the markings on it at all. Sora had placed her own crest around her neck, and Kari could see it swinging.  
  
"It'll turn out all right in the end Kari, don't worry. Now we've just got to find out what these symbols mean that are on these crests. Do you have any idea what your crest means Kari?" the younger girl shook her head as she replied.  
  
"No, I have no idea; I've never seen this symbol before. What about you Sora? Have you got any ideas about your crest?" Sora sighed and also shook her head wondering how Tai had managed to decipher his symbol. She remembered that he had just looked at it before he had mumbled the word 'Courage' so that must be what his crest stood for. Silence settled over the camp until Tai arrived back, carrying an arm load full of fruit.  
  
"Here's some food, if anybody's hungry. It may look weird, but it's edible," he carefully placed the fruit down in the middle of the clearing and the other children stared at it. There were strange purple fruits that looked like oranges, but were the wrong colour. There was a blue star- shaped fruit as well, but all of the other fruit looked normal. The children were skeptical until their digimon raced to the fruit and started to eat some. Then the children just gave into their hunger and ate some of the fruits that looked more natural.  
  
"Where'd you find all of this?" Gomamon asked, using one of his flippers to point to the fruit, "I live in the digital world and I still don't know where to find fruit in this forest." Tai just shrugged before he replied.  
  
"There's a tree not too far from here that always has plenty of fruit growing on it. I found it when I was here before," he stood up and went to check on the fire that Agumon had started, mainly trying to get away from the others so that they wouldn't ask questions.  
  
"Hey, have any of you figured out what your crest means?" Matt's cool voice asked. Tai turned to see that everyone had finished eating and that they were starting to come and sit around the fire. Everyone answered no, except for Tai of course.  
  
"How on Earth do you know what yours means? All that is on mine is a funny drawing that looks like a tear drop!" Mimi exclaimed showing Tai her green crest, "I have no idea what a tear drop could mean!" Tai glanced at it and translated it in his head.  
  
"That symbol means 'Sincerity' Mimi. Your crest is of sincerity," Mimi picked her crest up and stared at it closely, as if she was trying to remember every detail.  
  
"What about mine Tai?" T.K held up his golden crest and Tai bent to look at the engraved drawing.  
  
"That is the crest of hope. Does anybody else need their crest translating?" Tai asked as he straightened up. Matt, Kari, Sora, Izzy and Joe nodded. "Well, this crest Matt is the crest of friendship. Sora, this represents love. Joe, this is really fitting, this means reliability, Izzy, you have the crest of knowledge and Kari, you have the crest of light." Tai told them as he moved around to see the crests.  
  
"What does yours mean Tai?" Joe asked, pushing his glasses back up his nose as he looked down at his own crest, "and how do you know how to read these things?" Tai sat down on a log that had been pushed near the fire. He picked up a stick and poked the fire, trying to figure out what to say.  
  
"He has the crest of courage. I heard him mutter that before he went and talked to Deathmon," Sora answered for him, giving him more time to compose an answer for Joe's second question. Tai couldn't have been more grateful to her. He decided that they should know the truth, or at least part of it. He wouldn't tell them everything otherwise he'd be putting them all in danger.  
  
"I know how to read these symbols because I livid here in the digital world until I was fi-four. I was taught how to understand these symbols because sometimes it was imperative that things were written in a language that people from other worlds didn't know, so I was taught how to read, write and speak in that language, so that I could understand certain things. That's how I could read the crests," everyone was silent for a moment until it sunk in. Tai was glad for the silence; it gave him more time to think about his answers.  
  
"Why did Deathmon ask you why you chose to stay in this clearing? He said that you hated it, so why did you suggest we stay here?" this question had obviously been bothering Palmon for a long time and she looked relieved that she had actually asked it. Tai sighed. He had known that this question would come up sooner or later, but he wished that it hadn't.  
  
"My parents were killed in this forest, in this clearing to tell the truth. And Palmon, before you say anything, my parent were not the King and Queen. My parents were murdered here and then taken somewhere else...I suppose that was what Deathmon was talking about," Tai hated having to lie again, but this time it was absolutely necessary. He could not have Gennai knowing that the Prince of the Digital World was right there in the forest. He couldn't reveal his identity to anyone. Not even the people he trusted.  
  
"But there were no murders around here! Nobody except the King and Queen died suspiciously for 20 years! All of the people that died did so from illness or accidents," Gabumon objected, sounding a lot like a lawyer, "and every single accident was witnessed by at least five others! What you are saying cannot be true." Tai was silent for a minute as he tried to counter what Gabumon had said, but he only came up with a mental blank.  
  
"Things aren't always as they seem, people lie to cover up the truth. Sometimes you just have to trust your instincts to find the truth, but it's hard to do that when even the truth seems to be a lie," he finally said, which confused everybody completely. Before anyone could say anything though, Tai spoke again, "It's really late and we have to see that guy tomorrow, so we'd better go to sleep. I'll take first watch to make sure that nobody attacks us. I'll wake somebody up once it's their turn." He walked away quickly, knowing that they wanted more answers instead of the confusing replies that he was giving them, but he didn't want them to know any more. He could hear a few of them grumbling to themselves, but he knew that they had listened to his argument, for they all seemed to be lying down to sleep. Tai walked to the edge of the camp where he found the tree that he had been standing behind those eight years before. He chose to sit leaning against this tree because it gave him a good view of the camp and because he felt sage there, knowing that the tree had protected him from certain death before. He wasn't surprised when he saw Sora get up and walk towards him, with Biyomon by her side. She came and sat next to him, leaning against another tall tree, which was taller than the one Tai sat against.  
  
"What did you mean by that confusing riddle?" she asked after sitting in silence for five minutes, "About finding the truth and lies?" Tai didn't reply for a while as he tried to get his thoughts together.  
  
"I just meant that everybody lies to cover up the truth. Only some people have a good reason to, others don't. Even people that you trust can lie to you, and sometimes that then destroys the trust that has been built up over time. Sometimes you don't ever get to know the truth and sometimes you do. But if you want to get the truth, then you have to trust in yourself and what you believe in and you have to trust your instincts. That is one of the most important lessons that I have learned in my life and that is what you are going to have to do. Tomorrow is going to be a big day, full of lies and truths that are hidden below the surface," Tai explained, knowing that Sora would understand. She still looked confused after his explanation though and he knew that it was because she was tired.  
  
"I-I don't think that I understand," she muttered, staring at her hands, "Lies and truths that are hidden? Trust that is broken and built? I really don't understand." Tai smiled as she seemed to be drifting off to sleep. He knew that she would get too cold if she slept where they were, so he poked her in the arm.  
  
"Look, you're really tired. Why don't you go sleep where the others are? I'll wake up the next watch person in a couple of hours. Okay?" Sora nodded tiredly and she and Biyomon went back to the others and went to sleep near the fire, "Please remember what I said Sora. The truth will only come out if you trust your instincts."  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Hey, did any of you get woken up for doing the sentry last night?" Sora asked after Tai had disappeared off to find them more food for breakfast before they set out to go to the castle, "Because I didn't and I think that Tai watched for evil digimon the whole night because he seemed to be up too early." The others shook their heads.  
  
"I assumed that I would be woken up by someone when it was my turn, but I didn't get woken up," Izzy told them as they all gathered in a group around the center of the clearing, "but I was having strange dreams about truth and lies and instincts... all over what Tai told us yesterday."  
  
"Yeah, my dreams were pretty strange too Izzy. The truth kept on staring at me in the eye, but I couldn't tell it what the truth was," T.K mumbled, still looking sleepy, "But it doesn't matter because it was only a dream and they aren't real."  
  
"Yeah, nothing is real in dreams; it is just your imagination. I was thinking about the riddle before I fell asleep, so my dreams were filled with things about truth and lies too. It's just all too confusing," Joe again pushed his glasses up his nose as they had come precariously close to falling off completely.  
  
"Did everyone have these weird dreams then?" Sora asked, in that sentence betraying the fact that she, too, had had strange dreams.  
  
"Yeah, I did."  
  
"Me too," Kari told them, looking wide awake, "But I don't know what it means."  
  
"What don't you know what it means?" Tai appeared through the trees, his arms again full of the fruits, as digimon tended to eat a lot.  
  
"Nothing, it was just a dream, that's all," Kari replied, picking one of the blue fruits up from the pile and peeling it absently, "It was a confusing dream, but it wasn't very scary."  
  
"Oh, okay then."  
  
"Tai, did you stay up all night keeping watch over the camp?" Sora asked, noticing that he looked a bit tired, "Because nobody else was woken up for duty, so you must have kept watch all night."  
  
"Um... yeah. I kept watch for most of the night, but I did get some sleep. Agumon stayed up while I slept and I stayed up while he slept. I wasn't very tired, so I was fine. You guys were all extremely tired though, so I decided to let you sleep," Tai wasn't eating anything because he didn't feel very well, but nobody noticed except Agumon, who gave him a worried look, but didn't say anything.  
  
"Well, tonight we won't need a guard as we'll probably be staying with Gennai. He's really nice and he's not stopped searching for the royal children since they disappeared. He has punished every digimon that is against the royal family, but he hasn't hurt them. He is too kind to some of them, especially to Renamon who was supposed to be guarding the children. I still think that she got off too lightly," Tai couldn't hold in anger in at Palmon's words, but he managed to reply calmly.  
  
"It wasn't Renamon's fault that the Prince escaped from under her care that day. There were lots of kids running around and she had to look after the Princess as well, who was sick at the time and so she was crying. How could Renamon have managed to keep the Prince from leaving when she was trying to look after all of them at once?" Palmon just raised her eyebrows at Tai and gave him a cool look.  
  
"It is her duty to look after them, and she failed at it. I still believe that she was a part of the plot against the King and Queen, as since she was supposed to be looking after the Princess too, she managed to lose her. What a coincidence!" Tai just took a deep breath to try and calm himself down before he spoke.  
  
"I don't care if you think that Renamon is a part of the team that is destroying the Royal Family, but I know that she isn't. But you can believe what you want and I'll believe the truth," Tai's voice was shaking with anger, although he was trying to stop it. He walked away from the group and went back to sit against his tree, with Agumon trailing behind. Palmon and the others were staring after him, wondering why he had been so angry with what Palmon was saying.  
  
"What's eating him?" Matt muttered quietly, so that his voice wouldn't carry, "I mean he's all bad tempered all of a sudden."  
  
"Maybe being in this clearing is finally getting to him. Or maybe it's just this snow that must have turned up whilst we were sleeping," Mimi suggested. They had woken up that morning all covered in a thin layer of snow, and now they were pretty cold. They would have frozen if it wasn't for the fire. Tai seemed to be immune to the cold though, as he sat away from the fire without even seeming to shiver.  
  
"Come on guys, the sooner we leave the sooner we can get to the castle, where it's warm. I know that Gennai'll have the castle warm for when we get there. We'd better leave," Gatomon told them, noticing that Kari was shivering, "After all, we can't search for the Prince and Princess if we're all sick." The group got up on their feet and began walking towards Tai, who was still sitting against the tree.  
  
"Come on Tai, we're leaving now," T.K told him as they neared him, "We're going to go to the nice, warm castle!" He sounded very excited about this and soon both he and Kari were telling each other what they imagined it to be like. Tai stood up in acknowledgement of what T.K had said and they started off towards the exit of the forest. Tai didn't say a word as they climbed up the small hill that lead them to the castle, and he had dropped to the back of the group along with Agumon. He didn't feel the cold at all, in fact he felt extremely hot and he knew that he was coming down with a cold or something. He didn't say anything though and they continued on their way.  
  
They spotted the castle only five minutes after they exited the forest. It was built of large stone slabs that were dark grey in colour. There were green vines climbing all the way up to the dark blue roof, but they were neatly trimmed. There were many towers to the castle as well as a lot of windows. There were a few digimon going about daily business in the castle grounds, doing jobs such as trimming the vines or mowing the huge garden. T.K and Kari were wide-eyed as they approached the building, trying to look everywhere at once so that they didn't miss anything. Matt and the other older kids except for Tai laughed at the sight two of them watching their surroundings.  
  
"This is so cool!" T.K exclaimed as he watched a digimon trim an extremely long and thick vine, "I've never been to a castle before. This is so cool!" They reached the entrance where two Terriermon were standing guard.  
  
"We're here to see Gennai. We've found the children who are supposed to help us search for the royal children!" Palmon reported to the first guard and he nodded before rapping on the front door. It swung open silently and on the other side of the door stood a man whom Tai recognised. It was Gennai. He looked to be a bit older, as he had been only 20 when he had murdered Tai's parents, but Tai still recognised him. He was wearing a long brown coat that almost touched the ground and he had short hair. His eyes were gray and he was studying the group of children carefully. Tai felt his heart rate increase as Gennai opened his mouth to speak.  
  
"Welcome young digidestined, to the castle of the Royal Family of the Digital World. Please follow me," as they began to follow Gennai further into the castle Tai\s feeling of dread increased. He didn't know what was going to happen, but he did know that it would be disastrous...  
  
End of Chapter 3  
  
Well, there we have another chapter of this fic. I'm actually writing instead of doing my holiday homework, but I still have another week and a half to get it one. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying this fic as much as I am enjoying writing it. This chapter is the shortest so far, but I'm probably going to start the next chapter after dinner. Please review so then I know what you are thinking about this fic, because I really love reviews and it makes me determined to continue as soon as possible. I want to thank all of my reviewers very much, I love you guys! You're all so nice to me and I want to thank you for that. So please review and I'll write another chapter for tomorrow, maybe I'll even finish it tonight! See you later! 


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Notes: I don't own digimon or most of the characters in this fic. I do own the plot though and any similarities to any other fic are unintentional and I apologise.  
  
A Different Destiny, Chapter 4  
  
The group followed Gennai down maze like corridors that they felt certain that they would get lost in. Even Izzy was having trouble remembering the way that they had cone, and he usually remembered the way out of everywhere. They finally came to a room that was fairly big in size. Inside the room a fire was burning brightly in a marble fireplace on the left, as well as on the right. The room was white with cream furniture arranged in the middle of the room. Gennai walked straight to a chair that was facing the others and beckoned for them all to come and sit down. Tai was the only one who refused; he preferred to stand next to one of the chairs than to seat.  
  
"As I said before, welcome to the Castle of the Royal Family. My name is Gennai, I was one of the closest friends of the family and now I am leading the search to find the Prince and the Princess. I have figured out that you children are the digidestined, but could you please tell me your names and crests so that I have a better view of which I am talking to?" everyone except Tai seemed to relax in the presence of this 'stranger' and Mimi started the group of by introducing herself.  
  
"I'm Mimi and I have the crest of Sincerity. Palmon here is my digimon partner," Mimi's voice was excited and girlish and Tai couldn't help but be annoyed with her. He knew that he shouldn't yell at her for introducing herself, so he kept quiet. He wasn't feeling well either and the presence of Gennai was just making him feel worse. Though the room was warm with the heat of two fires, Tai was shivering. Nobody but Agumon noticed and again he said nothing.  
  
"My name's Joe and my crest mean Reliability. Gomamon is my partner."  
  
"I'm Matt. I hold the crest of Friendship and Gabumon is with me."  
  
"I'm T.K, Matt's younger brother. My crest means Hope and Patamon and I are partners!"  
  
"My name's Kari. My crest symbolizes Light and Salamon is my partner."  
  
"Izzy is what people call me and I have the crest of Knowledge. Tentomon is my digimon."  
  
"My name is Sora and I bear the crest of Love. Biyomon is my partner." There was a pause in the room in which Tai was supposed to introduce himself, but he didn't say anything, "Uh, Tai? Hello, Earth to Tai? Are you okay?" Sora waved her hand in front of Tai's gaze and he seemed to snap out of whatever he was thinking, "Aren't you going to introduce yourself?"  
  
"Forgive my brother. He's been acting pretty strange lately," Tai heard Kari apologizing to Gennai. It made him extremely angry to hear her apologise to the murderer of his parents, but he calmed himself down quickly.  
  
"My name is Tai and Agumon is my digimon partner. I have the symbol for Courage on my crest," he felt like an idiot introducing himself like that, but the others had done it so he had to do it too.  
  
"Well, now that I know everyone's name, I will tell you what you have been brought here for. The Prince and the Princess have been missing for 8 years this very day, the 21st of June. On this day eight years ago their parents, the King and Queen, were murdered by a group of humans and digimon that were unhappy with their rule. We believe that they also kidnapped the Royal Children to teach them their ways of ruling so that when they are found they will rule unfairly. We found this necklace near the scene of the murder and we believe that all members of the group wear these around their necks. A witness said that they saw a boy carrying the Princess somewhere just before she disappeared. Please take a look at this necklace," Tai almost had a heart attack once he saw that the necklace Gennai was holding up was almost exactly the same as the one that he wore around his neck, except that it had a 3 engraved on it instead of a 1.  
  
"I-I've seen this necklace before! Wait a minute, before we got sent here-" Tai cut Izzy off as he pulled out his copy of the necklace. Gennai's eyes lit up when he saw it.  
  
"Do you mean this necklace Gennai?" all eyes turned to him as he spoke on quietly, "Does this mean that I am a part of this 'terrorist group' too?" Total silence covered the room as Tai stared straight into Gennai's eyes calmly. He knew that he had blown his chance of escaping from Gennai's grasp this time, but he would never betray the promise he made to Rena that he would protect his sister at all costs. It was a good thing that he had disguised the Princesses necklace as something else because at least now she wouldn't get caught.  
  
"You're one of them! And don't try to deny it by saying that you received it for a present or anything like that. That is a mark of the terrorist group and it doesn't come off once it is attached. You must have been the boy who kidnapped the Princess!" Gennai's eyes glowed dangerously in the firelight and Tai knew that he was in for it.  
  
"As a matter of fact I got it for my fourth birthday from my parents. And yes, I did take the Princess, but I didn't kidnap her. I was saving her from a dangerous murderer who was after both her and the Prince," everybody but Agumon looked both shocked and angry with him.  
  
"You kidnapped a Princess? You are part of a terrorist group? And I thought that you were my brother for all those years too! I'm glad that you're only my adopted brother; you're a horrible person!" Tai took a deep breath at Kari's harsh words and he wanted to cry, but he kept his face emotionless and continued to continue his staring match with Gennai, ignoring all of the hostile looks he was receiving.  
  
"Who are you really? You say that your name is Tai, but you've lied about everything else so far, so who are you really?" Palmon demanded to know and everyone else seemed to agree with her.  
  
"You wouldn't believe me if even if I did tell you my real name. None of you trust me to tell the truth and I'm not going to break my promise to somebody," Tai's concentration was starting to disappear slowly and Tai thought that it was probably because he was sick. Nobody else realised though, as they were agreeing with what he was saying. Gennai stood up and approached him.  
  
"Where is she? Where is the Princess?" he asked, gritting his teeth, putting on a show that he was outraged that the Princess was missing, but everyone else believed him. Gennai was a good actor after all.  
  
"I don't know. She could be tap dancing on the moon for all I know. I went and gave her to a family and they adopted her before I left and got adopted myself. I kept in contact with her when I could, but she moved away a few years ago and we lost contact," Tai hated lying to anybody, even to the murderer of his parents, but again he knew that it would keep Kari out of trouble.  
  
"You're lying Tai, or whatever your name is. You'd better tell the truth soon otherwise we'll have to resort to other means to get the answers out of you," Gennai picked up Tai's necklace and looked at it intently, as if he was trying to memorize every detail on it. To make sure that it didn't come off, Gennai pulled it as hard as he could, causing Tai to almost fly into him, "Now where is she?" Tai was feeling really dizzy, but he still managed to make up another lie.  
  
"She's playing the flute on Neptune," he closed his eyes for a second, trying to make the dizziness stop. He was also wondering why the room could be so cold with two fires burning. He never really finished his thought though, because the room spun even faster and he collapsed, unaware of what was going on around him.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"I can't believe that Tai is actually a part of a rebel group that wants to brainwash the Prince and Princess of the digital world! It just doesn't seem right," Sora said, mainly to break the silence that had engulfed the room after Gennai had left with the unconscious Tai. Agumon had followed them out of the room, claiming that he 'didn't trust someone who lied.'  
  
"Well, it's true. Tai even said so himself. He admitted that he had taken the Princess somewhere and had hidden her. It's his own fault that he finally will have to pay for what he did," Matt seemed glad that Tai was gone. Matt had never liked Tai because Tai was outgoing and though he wasn't as popular as Matt, he still seemed to be happier.  
  
"I don't think that Tai is a part of this 'terrorist group' at all," Joe's statement made everyone turn their gaze on him, but he continued unfazed, "Tai told us to trust our instincts, right? Well, there's something about this necklace that makes me remember someone, from when I was really young. I was in a car crash when I was seven and so I don't really remember my past all that well, but something tells me that Tai is keeping something from us that could tell us what is really going on here." Izzy turned on his laptop on and started typing away, his eyes glued to the screen.  
  
"What are you doing Izzy?" T.K asked, looking at the screen over the young genius's shoulder, "What are you looking for?" Izzy was quiet for a moment before he replied.  
  
"I'm trying to find out what this necklace means. It has to be somewhere on the internet or on the digital world's database," Izzy turned back to his computer and was soon engrossed in it again.  
  
"We have already tried various sources to find out what the necklace stands for, but we've never found the answer," the Chosen children looked up as Gennai walked back in the room, followed closely by Agumon, "It seems that Tai has caught a fever. He is now in the hospital room, for he seems to be really sick." Sora and Kari glanced at each other. Tai had meant the most to the two of them, and they were finding it hard to believe that he was a traitor. But they had to agree that the evidence that Tai gave them was not exactly proving his own innocence, it was condemning himself.  
  
"Will he be okay?" Sora asked quietly, knowing that if Tai was who Gennai said he was she shouldn't be asking that question. Kari, T.K and Joe also looked like they wanted to know the answer too, but Matt, Izzy and Mimi weren't too interested. Neither were most of the digimon.  
  
"Why would we care if he's alright or not? He has betrayed the Royal Family and the Princess and he deserves to be punished," Palmon declared, crossing her arms, "The royal children were nice and they didn't deserve to be kidnapped. Sure the Prince was a bit of a mischief maker, but he was only five when he disappeared. They didn't deserve to be kidnapped, they deserved to have their parents kept alive and for them to grow up here in the castle." Palmon got very emotional whilst she said this and most of the digimon, including Biyomon, Gomamon and Patamon, agreed with her. Agumon was the only digimon who was not nodding in agreement. Even Sora was inclined to believe what Palmon said.  
  
"Palmon, I only asked if he was going to be okay. I never said that he didn't deserve to be punished and I never said that those two children didn't deserve to be here with their parents. I just want to know if Tai's going to be okay," Palmon sighed, but she didn't say anything.  
  
"Tai is going to be-" Gennai was cut off by a Terriermon rushing into the room.  
  
"Gennai, we have found out that Renamon has been raising an army, against your orders. We have brought her back with us to the castle. Do you want me to put her in the dungeon?" Gennai thought for a second before he agreed.  
  
"Yes, take her there. It'll be nice to see two old friends see each other again after a long time. I'll come and escort her there myself," Gennai turned back to the digidestined, "Please forgive me. I'll be back soon." The Terriermon and Gennai left the room swiftly, with Agumon watching them suspiciously. Once they were gone Agumon turned back to the others.  
  
"Agumon, is Tai going to be okay?" Agumon didn't reply at first, he seemed to be having a battle within himself, "Agumon?"  
  
"You guys believe that Tai is a 'bad guy,' don't you?" Sora nodded reluctantly at Agumon's question. It didn't feel right, but she couldn't deny the evidence, as much as her heart wanted her to.  
  
"You can't fight the fact that the evidence is all against him Agumon. I know that you don't want to admit it, bit Tai is actually wrong on this," Kari told the dinosaur-like digimon, "You are his digimon partner and you feel that you can't betray him, but he actually did something wrong and he admitted that himself." Agumon was shaking his head.  
  
"You can't go condemning the innocent if you don't have all of the facts. You are missing two key pieces of evidence, well three now that I come to think about it, so you can't make a judgment against Tai. Believe me when I say that those three pieces of evidence that you are missing are very important. Tai won't let me tell you what the truth is, he muttered something about you having to figure it out for yourselves and then another thing about putting the Princess in danger, but you shouldn't forget the saying 'innocent until proven guilty,'" Agumon paused for a breath, noticing that all eyes were on him, "As for will Tai be alright, that I am not certain of. Tai has not been taken any place that has a doctor; in fact he was thrown in a dungeon. Luckily I kept out of sight otherwise I would have been thrown in there too. That's what Tai meant about two friends seeing each other again; Tai and Renamon used to be extremely good friends." Agumon was giving them a clue in that last sentence, but none of them picked it up.  
  
"But if Tai's really sick and he's in a dungeon, how is he going to get the medical help that he needs?" Joe demanded to know. His father was a doctor, so he knew about many different types of diseases and knew how they had to be treated.  
  
"Renamon is in there now, so there is no need to worry. Renamon would give her life to make sure that Tai's okay, and as she used to be a nurse, she'll know how to look after him," Agumon felt like he was throwing clues at them left, right and center and he felt like he was being too obvious. It wasn't his fault that they were ignoring all of the clues. Silence fell in the room once again, until Tentomon spoke.  
  
"Wait a minute there Agumon! The only people that Renamon would give her life to are members of the Royal Family. Those were the only people that she considered her friends! Why would she give her life to a traitor?" Agumon smiled secretly. Finally one of the digimon had said it so then the children could think about it, so that when they figured out that Renamon was not the traitor they thought she was, they would know Tai's identity.  
  
"But Tentomon, remember that Renamon was a traitor! She was the one who was responsible for the children and she helped the terrorist group get them! That means that she would risk her life for the group that Tai is a part of!" Gabumon piped up, reminding his buddy of what had happened in the conversation before, "So technically it doesn't matter."  
  
"But are you absolutely certain that Renamon is a traitor? Just because the children went missing it doesn't mean that she helped them to escape," Agumon wanted to make sure that the information that Tentomon had told them didn't get forgotten, "We all know how loyal Renamon was to the Family. Why would she change her mind and join this group? And she would die for any of the Royal Family, just like she would die for Tai." The other digimon would not back down though, and most of the digidestined believed what their digimon did. In fact, only Sora and Joe seemed to be having second thoughts about what was being said.  
  
"But why would Renamon give her life to save Tai then? It all doesn't make sense. If the only people that Renamon would die for are members of the Royal Family, why would she die for Tai, who is a part of this terrorist group? You can't deny the fact that he took the Princess away from here, so he must be a part of the group. That would be the only logical reason that there is," Izzy explained, trying to keep it simple, "That is, unless we're wrong about this terrorist group, but that would mean that Tai would be this mysterious Prince. That isn't possible as his birthday doesn't coincide with the Prince's birthday, so the terrorist group is the only way to explain this." Sora didn't believe that for a second, although it was a very logical explanation.  
  
"Wait a minute, Tai explained that riddle that he told us to me. He told me, wait, he said that 'everybody lies to cover up the truth. Only some people have a good reason to, others don't.' Maybe he was trying to give us a clue with that," her instinct was telling her that Tai wasn't a bad guy, but now she had to convince everyone else that that was the case. She sighed as she knew that it wasn't going to be easy, especially when she didn't know the answer herself . . .  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
~DREAM SEQUENCE~  
  
Tai was standing in the clearing where his parents had been murdered by Gennai. It was covered with snow, exactly the way it had been on his 5th birthday, those eight years ago. In the center of the clearing stood his parents and they seemed to be waiting for him.  
  
"Taichi, my little boy! You've grown so much and I miss you everyday," his mother told him, tears coming to her eyes and she pulled a white handkerchief out from the air and dabbed underneath her eyes, "I'm sorry that we left you alone." She burst out into tears and was unable to speak. Tai ran over to her and hugged her tightly, ignoring the tears that were running down his own cheeks.  
  
"I miss you too Mum, but you didn't leave me alone. I always had Hikari with me, though she never realised the truth. You don't need to cry, we have gotten by so far," his father had been watching the exchange closely and now he felt that he had to speak before it was too late.  
  
"Taichi, my son, we have to tell you that we are proud of what you have done for your sister, but we want to know how you are going to get yourself out of this situation. We know that you care about Kari, but at the minute your friends are thinking that you are a traitor and that you deserve to be punished. Please be careful Tai, Gennai is a formidable opponent and you should not take his forces lightly. How are you going to escape now?" Tai turned to his father with a small smile on his face.  
  
"My friends will realise the truth sooner or later Dad and they will come and help me. Agumon is giving them as many hints as he can, but he cannot tell them the truth otherwise they will not believe him and then they won't even consider the truth as a possibility. I have faith in my friends and I know that they will find the truth, or at least Sora and Joe and Kari will. The others I am not too sure about, but those three will find the truth, even if it does mean that Kari's necklace is revealed for what it truly is," his parents nodded thoughtfully before his father spoke again.  
  
"We will have to leave you now Taichi, otherwise your sickness will kill you. Remember that we love both you and Hikari and we miss you terribly. But that does not mean that we want to see you up here soon. Please be careful and I hope that your plan works. Have faith and everything should fall into its place soon. Goodbye son . . ."  
  
~END OF DREAM SEQUENCE~  
  
The forest scene faded away rapidly and so did his parents as Tai found himself on the ground facing the bottom of a drab grey wall. He groaned quietly to himself as his head began to throb painfully. He placed his hand on his forehead and moved it away quickly. His hand felt like it had almost been burned, but he was beginning to shiver.  
  
'Why does it have to be so cold in this place?' he thought to himself as he tried to get up to sit against the stone wall so he could take a look around at where he was, 'I feel like an icicle and yet my forehead is hot. That's not a good thing.' He had almost sat up when he heard a quiet voice coming from the other side of the dark room.  
  
"Don't sit up Tai, save your energy. I have a feeling that you are going to need it. I'll be over there in a second," the voice told him. Tai lay back down obediently. He couldn't figure out who the figure that had spoken was, but his body automatically responded to the female's voice. He heard the sound of something moving in water and then a tall digimon approached him. She was mainly a golden colour and she walked with a poise that shouted out 'DANGER.' Tai recognised her from his childhood.  
  
"Rena?" he asked his voice croaky from the lack of fluids, "Is that you?" The digimon continued on her way until she was by his side. She placed a wet cloth on his forehead and Tai instantly felt a bit better.  
  
"Yes Prince Taichi, it is I, Renamon, at your service," she smiled as she said this in a mocking tone, trying to lighten up the mood in the small room, "I told you that you would end up in trouble one day. And look, here we both are in the dungeons of the castle just because we are who we are." She paused for a second before speaking again. "I'm glad that you are alright Tai. I prayed and prayed for your safe return, but I was hoping that Gennai would be a long way away from here so that you would be safe. Is the Princess safe?" Tai nodded, but it hurt his head to do so.  
  
"She's alright, for the time being. I had to conceal it inside something else, but she has it," Tai felt the room spin around him again and the darkness of unconsciousness seized him again. Rena just sighed and kept her place beside the boy, her prayers now about his safety and the defeat of Gennai . . .  
  
End of Chapter 4  
  
Sorry that this has taken a while to get up compared to my other chapters, but I couldn't turn on this computer for a while and this chapter was almost done on this computer, so I couldn't access it from the other computers and yeah. Once school starts in a week, I probably won't be able to update often at all, as all of my teachers delight in giving me homework that is 'more important than writing.' It totally sucks, but I can't do much about it unless I want to flunk out of school, so. I'm just warning everyone that in a week I won't be able to update quickly, like I am now. Just a warning. Anyway, please, please, please review!! Please! 


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Notes: Well, I'm up to the fifth chapter already!! I don't own Digimon and I never claimed to. I feel really guilty now because one of my reviewers told me that this fic seemed very familiar, but I haven't read any fics like this on the site, so I'm very sorry if this plot is taken already. This fic came from my own strange imagination, not from anybody else!  
  
A Different Destiny, Chapter 5  
  
Agumon and the others fell silent as Gennai entered the room.  
  
"I'm sorry for all of the distractions that have been appearing since you have arrived. It isn't everyday that we find two traitors, but I fell that I should apologise to you about leaving you alone. I'm also sorry that your friend is a traitor. Who would have thought that he would be one of the people destined to find the missing children? Anyway, I apologise again for leaving you alone for all of this time," Gennai bowed his head and he looked sincere, but Sora couldn't shake off the feeling that he was just acting to gain their trust.  
  
"That's all right Gennai, you shouldn't apologise for Tai as it's not your fault that he is a traitor. As for leaving us here alone, it's been a good opportunity to talk and relax a bit from the shock of arriving here in the digital world," Matt told him as Gennai sat down, "Now, what are the signs that you can tell the Prince and Princess by?" Gennai looked a bit startled for a moment before he replied,  
  
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the signs. The Prince has green eyes and he has a small tattoo on his left arm, just above the wrist, that symbolizes the crown and which child he is in the family. His tattoo therefore has a number '1' on it as he is the first born child of the late King and Queen," his voice went sad as he mentioned the Majesties and most of the people in the room felt sorry for him, "There is another way to recognise the Prince and that is . . . he has a long scar running down his right arm after he fell from a wall and landed on some barbed wire." Gennai was forming a plan in his head as he went along. He knew of a boy with green eyes that also had a scar down his right arm. All Gennai would have to do would be to put a tattoo on the boy and then the digidestined would find him. Gennai knew that he could control this boy that he was thinking of, so he would have the digital world under his control in everything but name. He knew that his plan would work and so he silently congratulated himself.  
  
"That's wrong," everyone in the room turned to Joe in astonishment. Even Joe himself seemed to be trying to stare at himself in surprise.  
  
"What was that? I think that I should know what the Prince looks like and the signs that pinpoint the Prince. I was the trusted friend of the King and Queen after all," he put anger into his voice, but made sure that it sounded mainly hurt. He didn't want the others to suspect anything about his true evil plans after all.  
  
"The part about the Prince having a tattoo on his left arm is correct, but the rest is wrong. If my memory is correct, then the Prince's eyes were turning brown when he disappeared, and he never fell off of a wall. The Prince may have been reckless, but he was an excellent athlete and he could keep his balance anywhere! Besides Renamon was always so strict that the Prince was never allowed off the grounds of the palace, so we always had to come here if we wanted to play, with Renamon watching us like a hawk! The only times that he went near a wall were the times we managed to escape from Rena, but he never fell off, not once!" Joe grew more confident as his little speech went on and at the end everyone was staring at him in surprise.  
  
"What do you mean when you said 'so we always had to come here if we wanted to play'?" Mimi demanded to know, "You've never been here before in your life, so how did you know all of that?" All of the eyes in the room continued to stay on Joe and he sighed, wondering how he was going to explain the sudden return of all of his memories.  
  
"As I said before, I was in a car accident when I was only seven, so my memories of before that disappeared, but they returned just before while I was trying to puzzle out why that necklace was so familiar to me. I still can't remember the necklace, but I DO remember basically everything else. My family used to live here until digimon started becoming evil and attacking innocent people, then we moved to the 'real' world if you want me to put it that way. There were not many people who were the Prince's age around here, so all of the kids that did live around here became friends. The Prince was a very popular person, but sometimes I felt sorry for the poor guy because some of the kids were only friends with him because their parents had forced them to be. Anyway, I used to come over here and play all of the time, to keep the Prince company. I don't really remember the Princess much, but that was because she was so little and she could never play with us. But the Prince *never* fell from anywhere," Joe explained, looking Gennai in the eye for the first time since they had arrived.  
  
"If you were such good friends with the Prince, then you would remember his name. All of his friends knew his name, so what is it?" Gennai probed, hoping that he would get this useful bit of information from Joe before he found a way to dispose of him. He didn't want anyone else to reveal that he had been lying. He would, of course, lie and say that it wasn't the Prince's name whatever Joe said just so that the others would believe him. Joe thought for a second before he answered.  
  
"I'm not going to tell you. Only we kids, Rena and his parents knew what his name was, just as a security measure. We had to promise never to tell anybody his name and a lot of other stuff. We had to do the same with the Princess, although not many people wanted to be her friend as she was only a baby," Joe smirked at Gennai, seeing that his plans were ruined. Sora was considering all of the evidence so far to try and see if she could puzzle out where the Princess could be.  
  
"Well, what can the Princess be recognised by then?" she asked, breaking the tense silence between Joe and Gennai. The latter turned to her, shaking his head over something.  
  
"The Princess doesn't have anything to recognise her by. She was too young to get the tattoo and she didn't have any scars or anything as she couldn't hurt herself. Her eyes were in the middle of changing colour, so I have no idea what colour they are now. That is why we have to question Tai; he is the only one that seems to know where the Princess is" Kari held her whistle in her hands, looking as though there was something on her mind. T.K saw this and rushed over to where she was.  
  
"What's wrong Kari? Why are you staring at your whistle kind of funny?" T.K asked her, concern showing in his eyes. Mimi had to smother a giggle as she looked at the two youngsters, who were looking so cute. She could see that the pair cared for each other very much, even though they were only eight years old. Kari looked up at the sound of T.K's voice, her expression turning happier just by seeing him.  
  
"Nothing is wrong, I'm just thinking. Tai told me once that if I would know when to do something when he gave me this whistle and I want to know what he meant by it. Something tells me that he forgot to tell me something important, or that he is hiding something important from me, but I can't think of what it could be. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait for him to tell me," she looked down at her whistle again, a distant look in her eyes, "Maybe I'll find out what it is if I blow this. My whistle always told me the truth." She put her whistle in her mouth and blew, but no sound came out of it at all. Instead the whistle started to change shape until it turned into a little key with a crown at the end of it. The number two was engraved into the crown and everyone gasped in shock as it turned into a replica of the necklace that Tai wore.  
  
"Kari, does that mean that you are a part of the terrorist group too?" T.K asked his face sad. He looked like he was going to cry and on an impulse Kari hugged him.  
  
"No, I'm not a part of a terrorist group. He's been lying this whole time about what these necklaces mean! I don't know why Tai didn't tell you guys this, but I will tell you, for now I understand! These necklaces are symbols of the Royal Family. The number engraved onto the crown symbolizes which child you are. Mine has the number two because I am the second child or the Princess as you would call me. Tai's has the number one on it because he is the first born of the family. He is the Prince that we are supposed to find!" Kari was angry at Gennai as she knew that he had known about that all along. She glared at him across the room, still holding T.K's hand that she had grasped during her big speech. Palmon looked between Gennai and Kari, trying to decide who was telling the truth and who was lying. The other digimon were doing the same thing, as were most of the digidestined.  
  
"I believe Kari. She'd never tell a lie," T.K exclaimed, his cheeks going red as he realised that he was holding Kari's hand, "But you're a stranger and you could lie." Gennai didn't move, nor did he say a word. He just watched to see who would ally themselves with whom.  
  
"I believe Kari too. I never thought for a second that Tai would actually be a traitor," Sora said, climbing to her feet and standing behind the young girl, backing up her words with this action, "Besides, I've known Kari ever since she was a year old and I can tell if she is lying and this time she isn't" Biyomon chose to join Sora behind Kari, not using words, but allying herself with her digidestined partner.  
  
"We're over there too, aren't we Gomamon? You've known for ages that this was the truth, as you grew up with me until I left here. You just weren't saying anything. I remember the necklaces now, Prince *Tai* always wore one around his neck. And I'm not joking, the Prince has always had the name Tai," he and Gomamon quickly joined Sora and the others behind Kari, with Patamon flying with them.  
  
"Patamon! You've decided to join us here!" T.K called happily as Patamon came and settled down on his hat.  
  
"Of course T.K, I know that you would never lie. And besides, I believe Kari anyway. That's what Tai meant when he said that he took the Princess but didn't kidnap her- he couldn't kidnap his own sister!" Patamon looked comfortable sitting in T.K's hat and Gennai started to worry that no one would support him.  
  
"Prodigious! This is way better than a computer game; a real life mystery! Tentomon, I think that I have found the answer," Tentomon looked closely at the screen that Izzy had been working on and he seemed to agree with what was written on it.  
  
"I agree Izzy. That is a great theory that you have come up with there. Now let's just sit here and wait for everybody else to decide before we tell which side we're on," they stayed where they were sitting, which was basically in the middle of the room. Sora saw them move slightly towards her side of the room though and she smiled secretly to herself. Even without thinking about it they had betrayed which side they were on. Luckily she was the only one that saw it. Mimi was also in the middle of the room, but she crossed over and stood beside Joe, without giving a reason as to why she had chosen to side with them. Palmon, Matt and Gabumon were the only ones who hadn't decided, as Agumon had decided before Kari had even spoken.  
  
"Come on guys, who do you believe? You've got to believe someone!" Mimi told them, although she had never said why she chose the side she did, "And Palmon, you should be over here! I know that you are feeling guilty because of some of the things that you said to Tai, but you won't be able to make it up to him if you choose to side against him, will you?" Palmon shook her head before she walked to join Mimi.  
  
"I know, it's just that I feel terrible. I said all of those mean things to him even before I believed that he was a traitor. I just was worried about the Royal Children though, because I thought that they were in danger. I'm sorry guys," Palmon hung her head a little as she approached her destination, but they all just smiled.  
  
"It's okay Palmon, I'm sure that Tai understands. All of this would have been easier if he had just told us all of this from the beginning," Sora smiled at Palmon, who lifted her head up again and nodded determination evident in her stance.  
  
"Well, we'll just have to find out why he didn't tell us before then, once we get him out of the dungeon place he's in. Now we just have to worry about why Gennai has been lying to us in the first place," Palmon's eyes narrowed as she looked at him, then at Matt and Gabumon who hadn't joined either side yet. She knew that Izzy and Tentomon wouldn't move until they did, and she thought that she knew what they had decided anyway. Gennai was starting to move backwards slowly, reaching for one of his possessions. It was a small ball that seemed to be made from elastic bands, but if you looked closely you could see that it was glowing a soft black.  
  
"Matt, Gabumon, whose side are you on?" T.K was getting more than a little impatient with his brother, who had seemed to have frozen ever since Joe had spoken about his memories, "It can't be that hard to decide. You have to choose between Kari and Joe's stories or Gennai's story. Whichever one you want to believe, you have to choose quickly." Matt didn't even seem to be listening and he didn't seem to be thinking either. He just seemed to be . . . standing there.  
  
"Matt? Are you there Matt?" Izzy, who was next to him, waved his hand in front of Matt's face and he shook himself out of his trance and looked confused at the two groups on either side of the room.  
  
"What's going on? Why are you all over there? I don't know what is going on here," Matt looked totally confused and everyone, including Gennai, stared at him incredulously. Matt just looked even more confused with everyone staring at him, so he just went over and stood next to T.K, trusting his little brother to have made the right decision.  
  
"You're coming over here but you don't know what's going on? That's what I call having faith in your friends," Sora heard Mimi and Joe mutter at the same time. She glanced at them and saw that they were both red with embarrassment at having spoken together, but Sora was sure that she saw more in the glance that the two had shared before they had looked away. She smiled to herself, knowing that she was the only one again to have noticed something. She had noticed the same thing with Mimi and Joe that she had noticed with T.K and Kari, although the two older kids weren't as obvious about it.  
  
"Izzy, what about you? You made up your mind ages ago, but you haven't told us what you've decided yet," Kari asked the slightly older boy, "What have you written on your computer?" Tentomon and Izzy looked at each other and nodded.  
  
"I have here all of the evidence for both sides. This is the only logical explanation that I can come up with that matches what I believe and the other one seems to be a little bit too farfetched to be true and involves a few insane people," he stopped for a second to scroll down the screen as if to check something, "Kari, when is Tai's birthday?" Kari was surprised for a second, so she took longer to answer.  
  
"The 9th of July," Sora answered for the little girl, who just nodded in agreement with her. Izzy typed something quickly into his lap top, muttering to himself quickly as he did so.  
  
"Okay. Now that was the only thing that was unexplained about this whole thing. Tai's birthday should have matched up with the Prince's birthday, but he knew that somebody might try to find him one day and kill him, so he changed the date. His birthday *was* the 21st of June, which consists of the numbers 2, 1 and 6, if he didn't include the year. Those numbers add up to make 9, so that's where he got the day of his birthday that he uses now. To get the month he just added 1 and 6, and so he got the moth July. So when he got to the Kamiya's he told them that his birthday was the 9th of June," Izzy explained, looking away from the computer screen, "To get it so the Kari was younger than six months old, he just made her birthday later than it really was. Her birthday is supposed to be in December, but he changed it to be in March, am I right?"  
  
"Yeah, I've always thought that my birthday was the 17th of March, and that would have made me three months old when the Kamiyas found us, but my birthday must be the 17th of December. Is that right?" she asked, looking at Gennai.  
  
"The Princess was born on the 17th of December, so that is correct," they turned around to see the new comer into the room that had answered the question. In the doorway stood a digimon that looked like a lion, but he was standing up on two legs. He was wearing three-quarter length black pants and at his waist was a big black belt, made from leather. He had a shaggy mane, but the thing that made the children afraid was a big huge sword that he carried on his back, "I'm sorry if I scared you children, I just heard the conversation. My name is Leomon, and I have suspected that something hasn't bee quite right about this search for the missing children for a while now. Gennai seems to be a bit too eager to find the children in a hurry. Something didn't seem quite right about him and now I believe that I am right." He took out his sword and stood facing Gennai, who had finally reached the ball that he had wanted to pick up.  
  
"I'm really glad guys, but I have to go. I'll be seeing you around," he cackled evilly and whispered something into the ball, before disappearing from sight. The children just stared at the spot where Gennai had been, wondering where he had managed to go.  
  
"Well, he's gone now, but at least we can go and set your friends free. Follow me and we'll go and release the prisoners now," Leomon set off quickly and they all followed eager to get Tai out of the dungeon prison that he was in. The dungeon was at the bottom of the castle, so they had to climb down a whole lot of stairs, "The dungeons are behind that door that we can only just see. The Prince will be free again in a moment. They moved faster and Leomon blasted down the door. They entered a room that was empty save for three small doors that each lead to a different cell. Leomon knocked out the guard before taking the keys down from a hook. He threw each pair of keys to a different digidestined.  
  
"Open the doors and see where they have put both the Prince and Renamon," he stood at the main door of the dungeons, making sure that none of Gennai's followers came down and saw them. Kari opened the door of the cell on the far left hand side and found that there was nothing in there but dust and dirt. Joe opened the door in the middle of the three, only to find the same thing. Sora took a deep breath and opened the door on the right. The first thing that she noticed was a bowl of water that was sitting near the door. On the ground in the middle of the room was a wet cloth, but other than that the room was empty. Something shiny caught her eyes and she bent to see what it was. There was a message written in a red substance that looked a lot like blood.  
  
'HA HA DIGIDESTINED, I HAVE WON!! I'VE TAKEN THE PRINCE AND RENAMON AND YOU'LL NEVER FIND THEM ALIVE!' Sora shook as she read this message and she had a terrible feeling that the message *had* been written in blood. Gennai had won this round, but she was going to make sure that he didn't win the next one. Still, she couldn't help but stare at the blood that was now drying on the ground without wondering where it had come from . . .  
  
End of Chapter 5  
  
Well, this chapter turned out differently than I expected and I didn't even make a Tai's point of view. Oh well, I'll do it next chapter. It would have been boring this chapter if I had done one anyway, because Tai is unconscious with his sickness and he wasn't dreaming or anything. Well, he could have been, but you're going to have to find out next chapter, aren't you? I tried to put a bit more Takari into my fic, but they are only eight years old, so it was a bit hard, especially as I can't really write romances very well. I also put in a bit of Jomi, because they are my second favourite couple out of the 01 couples. Well, please review so I know what's going through your head as you read this, I really need to know so then I can fix the storyline wherever I need to! Thank you to all those that have reviewed this fic, I love you all, really I do! You've been very helpful and I thank you very much. Please review!! Thank you!! 


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: I do not own digimon or any of the characters in this fic except for Deathmon, but you guys already knew that. This fic is probably going to end soon, as it is coming to a close and I want to finish it before I go back to school on Tuesday next week. So, enjoy this chapter, I think that there are only three chapters left in this fic!  
  
A Different Destiny, Chapter 6  
  
Tai was vaguely aware that he and Renamon were being carried, but that was basically the extent of his knowledge other than pain. His right arm was throbbing and he could feel a warm liquid running all of the way down it. His head felt like it was being attacked by thousands of little needles and he barely had the strength to open his eyes. As far as he could tell, they were being carried through some sort of desert that was filled with street signs designed to confuse anybody that wandered into it. Tai couldn't see who was carrying him, but he could tell that whoever it was, they were confident about where they were going. He could see a building in the distance that seemed to be surrounded by a hazy black aura, but as Tai fell unconscious he was almost certain that he had just imagined it. Then the darkness took him again and he ceased to notice anything around him.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Sora and the other digidestined were staring at the blood in shock, hoping that Gennai hadn't done anything drastic.  
  
"Do you think that Tai and Renamon are okay?" Kari asked in a small voice, a bit traumatized by the speed of the events that had happened so far that day. It was only 2 in the afternoon and already she felt that she had been through enough events to last her a whole life time. She was only eight after all.  
  
"Renamon will be fine; she can take care of herself. If she is with the Prince then he'll probably be fine as well. If they have been split apart, then I have no idea if either of them will be okay. The necklaces that the Prince and Princess have are able to give energy out to digimon that have sworn to protect them. Renamon swore to protect the Prince a long time ago, so I have no doubt that they'll be okay as long as they are together. Not many digimon know of the truth about the necklaces and I doubt that Gennai would know. As much as he liked to think that he was the most trusted man in the kingdom, it is not true. He was not told many things. I just hope that the Prince has enough energy left with his sickness," Leomon explained to the children, but that information didn't make the children feel any better.  
  
"Maybe I can try and find out where he is on my lap top. There must be some way of tracking them," Izzy plugged his lap top into the wall and started typing away madly, trying to find anything that could help them find Tai. Sora's arm brushed against something attached to her hip as she went to brush her hair back behind her ear. It was the strange device that she had caught when they were back at summer camp. She pressed one of the buttons that seemed to catch her eye and immediately a screen that looked like a map came up. In one spot she could see 7 different coloured spots all in the same place. An orange dot was the only thing that moved on the screen and it was moving rapidly away from them. Sora knew just by looking at it that the orange dot represented Tai. After all, his crest had been orange, so she knew that it was him.  
  
"I know where he is guys, look at this!" she called and everyone came crowding around to see what she was going on about, "This device that came to me at camp, it's showing where all of us are on this screen! This orange dot here has to be Tai, his crest was orange and I think that this device is tracking the device that he got. All of these other dots have to be the seven of us and this dot that is moving away has to be Tai as he is the only one not here. All we have to do is follow this and it will lead us straight to them!" The other digidestined all picked up their digivices and six 'clicks' echoed throughout the room as they all switched their digivices onto map mode. Leomon looked at the devices curiously.  
  
"What are those little square things?" he asked, looking over Izzy's shoulder at the device the boy held in his hand, "And why do all of you have them?" Gomamon decided that he would answer Leomon's questions.  
  
"These things are called digivices. They help us digimon digivolve somehow, as do the crests. As for why these guys have them, they are the digidestined, and their destiny is to protect this world and the other world that they came from," he told the big beast digimon, sounding as though he was reciting it from heart, "There is an ancient prophecy about these kids . . .  
  
When what seems to be the truth  
  
Is found to be nothing but a lie  
  
The Chosen Ones will go to the Castle of the Night  
  
And fight the evil they find.  
  
To truly win their fight  
  
They must find what they hide  
  
Otherwise defeated they will be"  
  
The other digimon in the room nodded as Gomamon finished, but all of the children were confused.  
  
"What on Earth does that mean? It all sounds like a load of gibberish to me," Matt told Gomamon, who just shrugged and went back over to Joe, who was searching through his big bag for something.  
  
"I never said that I knew what the prophecy meant, I just said that there was a prophecy. To understand it, we'll have to go to this 'Castle of the Night' and find out what's going on," Gomamon watched as Joe turned everything out of his bag before putting everything back in, obviously not finding what he was looking for, "What on Earth are you looking for Joe? You're turned everything out onto the floor and made a small mess. What are you so desperate to find?" Joe ignored him, still desperately searching for whatever it was he was looking for. After he had replaced everything in his bag, he turned to the others.  
  
"Has anyone else lost their crest? Mine was around my neck, but it's not there anymore," Joe told them, feeling like a complete idiot, "I know that the crest didn't fall off by itself, but I don't remember taking it off. I don't usually lose things, so I am a bit confused." The other digidestined looked down to see if their crests were still around their necks, but to their surprise the crests were gone.  
  
"My crest! Where is it?" Mimi screamed, using her hand to finger around her neck for the string that should have been holding her crest. Everyone else was doing the same, except for Sora. She was holding her crest in her palm, studying the strange pattern on it. Tai had told her that it was the crest of Love and she was wondering why her crest was the only one that hadn't gone missing.  
  
"My crest is still here," Sora told the others quietly and they stopped their frantic searching for their own crests to look at her, "Its right here. Whilst we were talking to Gennai were any of you holding your crests?" They shook their heads in response to her question and Sora thought that she knew what had happened.  
  
"Well, I held onto my crest for some reason unknown to me and it didn't go missing. Gennai must have managed to get them off all of you whilst we were talking somehow. Now he probably has seven of the crests because I doubt that Tai would be able to keep his crest away from Gennai. Maybe he can use the crests against us somehow," they fell silent for a minute before Agumon stood up from where he had been sitting on the ground.  
  
"I don't care that the crests are missing. All I care about is getting Tai back and giving Gennai what he deserves. We don't know what condition Tai and Renamon are in and they could need us. Why are we sitting around here talking about prophecies?" it was obvious that Agumon's patience had run out completely and the children shook themselves out of their pensive moods.  
  
"Your right Agumon. Tai needs our help, so let's go and help him!" T.K exclaimed, surprising everyone in the room, even his brother.  
  
"I agree, we'd better get moving quickly," they stood up and made their way to the gate of the castle.  
  
"Where do you think you traitors are going?" the children turned and faced what seemed to be an army of digimon, all wearing an armband on their arms that symbolized that they were a part of Gennai's army.  
  
"We're doomed," Joe told them as the army began to close in around them. The other kids could only agree as the endless rows of digimon surrounded them . . .  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Tai awoke as he felt himself be thrown against a wall and he almost wanted to laugh at the quirk of fate.  
  
'Aren't people supposed to fall unconscious once they have been slammed against the wall?' he thought to himself, trying to distract himself from all of the pain that his body was in. He felt as though someone had dragged him through barbed wire or something and his head continued to pound, refusing to stop. He heard a small groan come from his right, but he couldn't turn towards the noise. All he could do was stare at the wall in front of him and breathe, his body having no energy for anything other than that. His right arm seemed to have been bandaged roughly, but he couldn't remember who had done that.  
  
'Hikari, what has happened to her?' he knew that she had been discovered as the Princess as Gennai had made a vague comment about it before he had picked up Tai and Rena, but Tai didn't know what had happened to his little sister after that. He closed his eyes as the world started to blur around him and his last thought before he became unconscious again was of his sister and of a certain red-haired girl that was probably also in danger.  
  
~DREAM SEQUENCE~  
  
Tai looked around and the only thing that he could see for miles was an army of digimon closing in around him. He was standing with Kari, T.K, Matt, Joe, Mimi, Izzy and their digimon, including Biyomon and Agumon. Sora stood apart from the group, separated from them by a lion digimon. The digimon pulled out his sword and seemed to be challenging the army of digimon all by himself. Tai knew that that couldn't be a good idea.  
  
'Agumon, you've got to digivolve,' he thought and to his surprise, his digivice started to react.  
  
"Agumon digivolve to . . . Greymon!" Agumon was surrounded by the orange glow and when he emerged from it he was Greymon.  
  
"Greymon, how on Earth did you digivolve? Tai isn't even here!" Salamon asked the dinosaur digimon, who looked to be almost as confused as the other digimon.  
  
"I'm not really sure myself. Maybe Tai is in trouble, or it may just be that he knows that we are in trouble," Greymon turned back to the army of digimon, before glancing back at the others, "You know, I may have digivolved, but I won't be able to fight alone. What are you waiting for guys? Digivolve!" Seven beams of different coloured light flew from the seven digivices and wrapped themselves around their respective digimon.  
  
"Biyomon digivolve to . . . Birdramon!"  
  
"Salamon digivolve to . . . Gatomon!"  
  
"Patamon digivolve to . . . Angemon!"  
  
"Gomamon digivolve to . . . Ikkakumon!"  
  
"Palmon digivolve to . . . Togemon!"  
  
"Tentomon digivolve to . . . Kabuterimon!"  
  
"Gabumon digivolve to . . . Garurumon!"  
  
The newly digivolved digimon stood in a group that circled the children, to make sure that they were safe.  
  
"Nova Blast!"  
  
"Wing Blade!"  
  
"Lightening Claw!"  
  
"Hand of Faith!"  
  
"Harpoon Torpedo!"  
  
"Needle Spray!"  
  
"Electro Shocker!"  
  
"Howling Blaster!"  
  
The digimon attacked and some of the army disappeared after turning into dust. However many digimon they destroyed though, more came to take their place.  
  
"Sora look out!" Tai called, knowing that she wouldn't hear him. He dived into the way of the attack that had managed to get past Birdramon and his crest flared up. An orange glow came up out of nowhere and surrounded Greymon again.  
  
"Greymon digivolve to . . . Metalgreymon!" the brown skull-like thing on Greymon's head was encased in metal, as was Greymon's left arm. Long spikes that were also metal came out of Greymon's back, giving Metalgreymon wings. A metal chest plate also appeared on Metalgreymon. He quickly turned and managed to blast the attack heading for Sora out of the way with missiles that came from the metal plate on his chest. Sora was staring at the spot where Tai was, not noticing anything else.  
  
"Did anybody else see the orange glow that came from over there?" she asked, pointing straight at Tai. The other digidestined turned and looked, but they saw nothing there.  
  
"Sora, nothing is over there. We have to get out of here. Birdramon, Kabuterimon, can you guys fly us out of here?" Izzy called to the two flying digimon, "It seems that the only way we can escape is by using the skies."  
  
"Sure, as long as the others de-digivolve," Birdramon told him confidently, whilst protecting Sora from another attack, "Quickly divide into two groups and hop onto our backs." The children did as they were told and soon their digimon de-digivolved and did the same. Only Metalgreymon remained in his ultimate form as he could also fly. Tai felt himself fade from the scene and he closed his eyes . . .  
  
~END OF DREAM SEQUENCE~  
  
Tai found himself back in the place where he had been thrown before, with Rena leaning over him.  
  
"Are you alright Prince?" she asked, retying the bandage on Tai's right arm, "You were thrashing around quite a bit in your sleep and your crest started to glow. Are you feeling okay?" Tai groaned softly as his forehead started to burn, but he was determined to answer Rena.  
  
"I-I'm okay, I guess. W-Where are we?" his eyes were beginning to focus better than they had been and he could now see that the wall was made out of . . . darkness. That was the only thing that the wall was made out of. Solid darkness. Tai wished that he was somewhere else, anywhere than the room he was in at that moment. The room was lit by a candle that seemed to hold a black flame. Although the flame was black, it somehow managed to light the room up pretty well and Tai could see what was around him. Of course he found it hard to sit up, so he wasn't really able to see everything in the room, but he would have been able to if he had the energy to.  
  
"We're in the place that is referred to as the 'Castle of the Night.' It is named this way because the whole castle is made up of darkness. These walls are very stable, although it seems that they are just shadows. It is rumored that an evil thing lives here and now I believe that the rumors are true. There is just something that doesn't seem to be right about this place. Now, are you sure that you're okay? You look to be too pale to me," Rena looked at him, worry evident on her features and Tai was reminded very vividly of Mrs. Kamiya.  
  
"I'll be fine Rena, I know that I will be. I just hope that the others are okay. I saw them in my dream. They were being surrounded by an army of digimon that all obey Gennai and all of the digimon had to digivolve. Somehow my crest began to glow and Greymon digivolved to Metalgreymon and then they escaped in the air by using Birdramon and Kabuterimon. I just hope that they are alright. The Princess is with them, she holds the crest of Light. I need to know that she is okay," Tai winced as Rena pulled the bandage on his arm a bit too tight and she loosened it quickly in apology.  
  
"The Princess is here too? This is really bad. If Gennai captures the both of them and gives you to his master, then the digital world is doomed! We have to find a way to warn the others away from here before the Princess is captured!" Rena was so caught up in her worries that she loosened the bandage too much and it fell off straight away. Rena swore under her breath and picked it up off the ground. Tai could see that it was covered in blood and he moved his head so that he could see the wound. It stretched the entire length of the outside of his arm and it was still bleeding slightly.  
  
"We'll find a way," Tai felt dizzy again and he knew that it was his sickness kicking in again. He tried to fight the darkness that had come to claim him, but he was too weak and he fell into a dreamless slumber.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Sora was in a gloomy mood as she sat on Birdramon's back, staring at the digivice although not actually seeing it. Her left hand was holding onto her crest of Love tightly and she was determined not to lose it. She couldn't believe what had happened over the past two days. She had found that her best friend was a Prince of a completely different world and that his little sister, whom she considered a sister too, was the Princess of the same world. Then he had been captured and they had had to fight digimon to get away with their lives and . . . he was gone. Whenever Sora was feeling down or was just lonely he had always been the one to cheer her up and the one to keep her company. Now he was gone and it was up to her to help him for once in her life and she felt as if she couldn't do it. At the battle she had been wishing that he was there to help them and she had felt something. She had turned to look and an orange light had exploded out of nowhere and had made Greymon digivolve to Metalgreymon. She just couldn't figure out if it had somehow been Tai's spirit.  
  
"Hey Sora, are you okay?" Kari came and sat down next to Sora, although she had a bit of difficulty getting there without losing her balance.  
  
"I'm fine Kari, I'm just worried, that's all," Sora smiled sadly at the young girl before turning her gaze back to her digivice. The dot that represented Tai was still now and it had been for a while. Sora just hoped that he wasn't hurt, she didn't know what she would do if something happened to her best friend.  
  
"Sora, I know your worried about Tai, but he'll be fine. I've lived with him all of my life and I know that he will never give up on anything. Just have faith . . ." Kari drifted off and looked down at her crest and her Royal Necklace, blinking to get the tears out of her eyes. She was worried about her brother too and she just wanted him to be okay. The two girls sat in silence, both worrying about Tai, but for different reasons . . .  
  
End of Chapter 6  
  
Okay, this chapter is weird, but I like it. This fic is made up of whatever comes into my head when I'm typing, so it's not planned at all. Anyway, thank you to the people who have reviewed so far, I appreciate ALL of your comments! Please review again and I'll try to get the next chapter up tomorrow . . . but because of the time difference it might seem to be later than that . . . oh well, I'll get the chapter up as soon as I can! Till then, see you! 


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: I do not own Digimon.  
  
A Different Destiny, Chapter 7  
  
"Look, there's a castle over there, and Tai's digivice signal seems to be coming from inside it!" Izzy pointed to a huge castle that seemed to be shrouded in an aura of darkness. The other children looked at the castle and shuddered. They had been flying for most of the day, after camping by a small stream the night before. Sora knew that both Birdramon and Kabuterimon were getting tired and she was glad that they had almost reached their destination, but she didn't like the look of the castle that they were approaching. It seemed to give off an extremely evil feeling; a feeling that things were not right.  
  
"I don't like that place. The darkness is scaring me, it's too dark," Kari was shaking in fear. The darkness attacked her more than the others because she had the crest of light. Salamon and T.K both tried to comfort the poor girl, but it seemed that nothing was going to make Kari calm down, "I don't like the place, but if Tai's inside then I have to help him! He lied about a lot of things to protect me and now I have to repay him for that." Kari told them bravely, staring at the castle ahead determinedly, still shaking but seeming to have more confidence, "I won't let this stupid darkness frighten me, light always defeats darkness and so I know that the darkness will be defeated by light, no matter what." As she finished speaking Kari's crest began to glow and sparkles of pink light flew everywhere and seemed to form a protective barrier around the digidestined as they flew towards the castle.  
  
"Wow, what is Kari's crest doing?" Mimi asked, looking around at the pink aura, fascinated by the shield that it was forming, "It looks like it is trying to protect us from the darkness!" The destined children, including Kari, were staring at the rays of pink light in awe. They landed next to the castle safely and Birdramon quickly de-digivolved back to Biyomon, exhausted from the flight. Kabuterimon also de-digivolved when he landed, going back to his rookie form Tentomon again. Although they were no longer flying, the shield of light still protected the children and their digimon partners and the darkness of the castle seemed to lessen just a bit.  
  
"Where's the entrance to this castle? I can't see a door anywhere," Joe stated, peering at the building intently through his large lenses, searching for any sign of an opening in the solid walls of darkness. The other children looked too, but they didn't find anything either.  
  
"It must be on the other side, it's simple. If the opening isn't on the side we're on, then it must be elsewhere in the castle walls. We should just walk around the castle and then I'm sure that we'll find the entrance," Matt told them, taking over the place of leader in the group for the moment. He knew that Tai would become the leader again once they found him, but for now he was going to be the leader. After all, he did have some ideas of what to do.  
  
"I agree with Matt, there has to be an entrance to this place somewhere along the walls of it, and if we walk around then we're bound to find it. We have to get inside there quickly so that Tai isn't hurt anymore than he has been already," Sora agreed, pointing to her left, "We should go this way. Something tells me that the door to get us where we want to go is this way." The others just shrugged and began walking in the direction that Sora had pointed, keeping close together in a group so the light shield didn't have to stretch itself too far to protect them.  
  
"I hope we find Tai and get out of here soon," T.K whispered quietly to himself so that no one else could hear him, "Because if we don't then I know something bad is going to happen. I just hope that everything turns out okay and something else tells me that it will, if we just keep our hopes up." They walked around the building in silence, each person concentrating too hard on finding a door to start up a conversation. They were on the third side of the castle and feeling a bit disheartened when Sora just suddenly collapsed to the ground, holding her head in pain.  
  
"Sora, what's wrong?" Mimi exclaimed, rushing over to her. Sora didn't reply, she just sat on the ground, holding her head with an expression of pain on her face. Joe crouched in front of the girl and waved his hand in front of her eyes, but she didn't seem to notice. She didn't even blink and he couldn't get her to respond to anything. It was like she was in a trance or something.  
  
"Joe, do you have any idea what is wrong with Sora?" Matt asked the reliable boy, hoping that he would have an answer so that they didn't have to worry. But Joe just shook his head, unable to tell if Sora was ill or not.  
  
"She doesn't respond to anything . . . it's almost as if she's in a trance or something. We're not going to be able to move until she snaps out of it because of the barrier of light. If we all leave then Sora ill be unprotected, but if one of us leaves then they won't be protected. To make sure that everyone will be okay, then we have to stay here until Sora is okay. That's really the only thing that we can do," Joe told him quietly, watching Sora out of the corner of his eye to make sure that he knew if she was okay or not.  
  
"I guess that we have no other choice then, we'll have to stay here until she snaps out of it," Matt sighed, hating the thought of having to sit still near the castle made of shadows. He said his decision out loud so that everyone could hear him and the children soon sat down in little groups, waiting for Sora.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Sora had been walking along with the others when something seemed to slam itself into her thoughts as she passed a small notch in the wall. She could only really feel the pain and she collapsed into a sitting position, holding her head as if it could stop it from hurting.  
  
"I'm sorry that I hurt you, Child of Love, but I have to tell you something important. You know that the Child of Courage is sick, but what you don't know is that his illness is not natural," a kind voice spoke into Sora's mind and she found that she could only concentrate on the voice; she couldn't even move, "The one that you call Gennai is only a minion to the real evil that is behind all of this. To find a way to cure the illness that plagues the young Prince, you will have to look inside your heart and listen to what it has to say. Only when he is healed will you be able to defeat the evil in this place. You have to warn the others too, you have to tell them to listen to what is going on inside them and to tell all of the secrets that they find. This is the only way to defeat the evil and restore peace to this world." Sora digested this information quickly and then saw her chance to ask a question.  
  
"Who are you? I know that you tell the truth, for you have love on your side, but I want to know who you are to be telling me this and how you do it, if I may that is?" Sora just sent this out as a thought and she knew that the other being heard her questions.  
  
"Who I am, I cannot tell you now, but you will know one day. As for how I am doing this, well, you just did it then. You just talked to me through my mind, as I am talking to you through yours. You just need a little more practice and then you'll be perfect at it. Now, your friends are worrying about you, so I'd better leave you. Remember what I told you as it is imperative that you follow my advice . . ." the voice trailed off and Sora abruptly found that she was able to move again. She saw the worried looks on the faces of her friends and realised that she must have been in some sort of trance or something. She shook her head as if to dismiss the pain that she had felt before and Joe stood up and came over to her, determined to find out what was wrong with her.  
  
"Are you okay Sora? You just collapsed before and you seemed to be in some sort of trance or something. Does your head still hurt?" the others had formed a circle around them, wanting to know what was wrong with her quickly. Sora just smiled a little and stood up.  
  
"I'm fine, I just had a talk with somebody that I don't know in my head, that's all," she said brightly, watching the reactions of her friends as they looked at her in disbelief.  
  
"Sora, have you gone crazy? You can't talk to people in their heads, it just isn't possible!" Mimi exclaimed, exchanging glances with Joe, "You can't just-"  
  
{Yes you can, it just happened to me and I'm doing this to prove it,} Sora concentrated on talking to Mimi in Mimi's mind and found that it worked as Mimi was briefly cut off. Mimi didn't collapse in pain though and Sora knew that she was better at using her skill than the person who had spoken to her, or that person had been a very long way away. It was easy talking to Mimi as she was standing right next to Sora and so the distance wasn't very long. Mimi gasped in shock as she heard Sora's voice inside her head.  
  
"What-I mean how-how did you do that?" the others were just looking from Sora to Mimi, hoping that they would get an explanation from them soon as to what was going on.  
  
"I don't really know I just can do it. I managed to answer this mysterious person that started talking to me a minute ago by using it and I guess it's just a natural skill," Sora told the girl and she earned herself a few more odd looks from the others, who were confused with what was going on.  
  
"Please, will one of you tell us what is going on?" Matt demanded, looking from one girl to the other, confusion showing plainly on his face, "It isn't making any sense to the rest of us and I have a feeling that we need to know what is going on, so tell us!"  
  
"Sora can speak into people's minds," Mimi told him promptly, still looking a bit shook up from Sora's telepathic speech, "She just did that to me a minute ago and that's why you guys were confused." Everyone instantly turned their gaze to Sora who merely shrugged and continued on with her story.  
  
"Anyway, as I was saying before, this voice started speaking to me inside my head and gave me instructions to pass onto you guys. She told me that we all have to examine our hearts and find all of the secrets that we find in there and we have to tell them to whoever we need to. She mentioned that this was the only way that we would be able to defeat the evil that lives in this castle. Also, the real evil that we have to fight is not Gennai as he is only a minion of the horrible being that we will have to fight," Sora paused, unsure if she should tell them about Tai's illness being unnatural, but then she figured that if she told them that then they may lose all of the hope that they had, "And that's basically all the voice told me . . . and now we're on our own. I believe that I know where the entrance to the castle is, but before we go in there we're going to have to do what the voice instructed us and tell the people we need to tell the secrets that we are hiding inside. I suggest that we each go apart from everyone else and think this over. We can't go too far, unless we want to forgo the protection from the barrier for the time that this will take. I personally want to go far from everyone else because I need to be able to think. I'll be back soon and we'll all meet here when we are done, okay?"  
  
"That sounds like a good plan and although I don't necessarily like the thought of being out there without a barrier against the darkness, I want to go away from here to think as well. Let's say that we will all meet back here once we have finished. Everyone agree? The people that want to stay here can, and hose that want to go can go away to think. Good luck!" Kari told them before she walked from the barrier that was enclosing them. The barrier, although connected to Kari's crest, stayed where it was as the small girl made her way away from the others. Sora left as well, heading in a different direction to the Child of Light. The others followed until only Matt and Izzy were left inside the shield.  
  
"I might as well stay here, I don't really need to be alone to think," Matt told Izzy as the two of them leant against a couple of rocks that were a little distance away from each other, "And I'll need to stay here in case any of the others are away for too long."  
  
"I agree; I might as well stay here too. I doubt that I have anything that is too distracting to think about, so I will probably be finished soon with this 'self examination' process," Izzy sat back and the two friends fell silent, each trying to find out what secrets lay in their hearts.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Sora knew where she wanted to go. On the way to find Tai they had passed over a small lake that wasn't very far from the meeting place. It reminded her of the lake where she and Tai had first met, which was now a very special place to her. She knew that she would be the only person heading for the lake and so she didn't quicken her pace, but she didn't slow down either. When the lake came into view Sora found a smooth rock that was shaped roughly into the shape of a heart. She smiled at the irony of that and watched as Biyomon stood a little bit away from her, so that she would be able to think.  
  
'I'm supposed to find the secrets that I hide in my heart and I have to tell them to the people that I need to tell. But I don't know of any secrets that I have . . . maybe that's why the voice came to me; to tell me that I had to try to find the secret that I'm hiding from myself. I have no idea what it could be, but I have to find it, otherwise Tai will die and so will I, and evil will take over everything,' Sora bowed her head and tried to find what the voice had been going on about, but she couldn't find anything. After an hour she was frustrated with herself.  
  
'I can't give up now; Tai is counting on me! If I can't find what I'm hiding then he'll die and I don't know what I'd do if that happened. Tai is the only person that understands me, the only one that I care really deeply about and . . . Wait a minute, that's it! The secret that I've kept locked up inside my heart, the one that I've been afraid of for years; I've finally figured it out! I. . . I love Tai; I'm in love with him. I hid it from myself because. . . Because I was afraid that he didn't like me; afraid that I would ruin our friendship and everything that we had built up over the years. I fell in love with him when I met him, but I didn't understand and then when I realised what it was I hid it inside myself because I was too afraid. I-Now it may be too late . . . He is close to dying and I have to tell him how I feel, but I can't talk to him because he is locked up somewhere inside a castle made from darkness itself. Why couldn't I have gotten up the courage to tell him before, why couldn't I have admitted this to myself?' Her crest of Love was glowing a brilliant red colour, but Sora didn't see it. She was upset with herself for not realising her love for Tai before he was taken away from her.  
  
"Sora? Why are you upset? Your crest is glowing and everything, so why aren't you happy?" Biyomon had come to stand next to her partner and she felt sad at Sora's depression.  
  
"It's just that I've missed my chance to tell Tai something and now. . . Now it seems like I'll never get the chance to tell him and I. . . I know that he'll suffer because I didn't tell him. I only wish that there was some way that I could speak to him right now, so that I could tell him the secret that I kept locked away in my heart," tears came to Sora's eyes as she told her digimon partner these emotion-filled words and she put her head down on her knees and let the tears flow down her cheeks. Biyomon put one of her wings on Sora's shoulder and the girl looked up, her eyes red.  
  
"There is a way that you can talk to him Sora! Remember that you have that ability to talk to people in their minds, so maybe you could talk to Tai that way," she suggested before walking back to her post a few meters away, knowing that Sora needed to be left alone. The girl looked at her digimon partner and smiled, relieved that Biyomon had brought it up.  
  
"Thanks Bi," she whispered under her breath. Now all she had to do was figure out how she was going to tell Tai what had been in her hear for the last six years. . .  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Joe walked towards a dilapidated grey house that stood near the dark castle. Although he knew that it wasn't his house from when he was a child, it reminded him of it. Strangely it also reminded him of a young girl of approximately two years of age. He didn't really remember much about her, other than the fact that he had known her as a very small child. Images of her were the only thing that he remembered, but then again, he knew that he had only been very young at the time.  
  
"I'll stay here and keep a watch while you do this 'finding your heart' thing Joe," Gomamon told him, stopping outside the door of the small cottage, "I wish you the very best of luck. I know that you can find what you are supposed to, so just remember that and don't give up!" Joe smiled back at the water digimon.  
  
"Thanks Gomamon, you are a real pal," Joe replied and he made his way into the house and sat down in a corner of what seemed to have been the living room. More images of the girl appeared out of nowhere as Joe stared at the fireplace, memories of the girl crying.  
  
'Why was she crying? I remember that I was crying too, but why? I don't even know this girl; I only know images of her. The feelings that I get when I have these flashbacks are the same feelings that I get when I'm around Mimi, but this little girl cannot be Mimi, can she? I'm so confused! I thought that this 'finding the secrets of the heart' thing was going to clear some things up, not make things even more difficult to understand,' Joe thought and he closed his eyes, hoping that that would help him to concentrate.  
  
'Now, what do I feel when I get these images of the girl? Well, I feel. . . I feel happy, like everything is the way it's supposed to be. I feel. . . well, I feel as if I would travel the whole way around the world and back just to pick up a leaf for her if she wanted it. Why do I feel this way with this little girl? That's exactly the same way that I feel about Mimi . . . is it possible that the little girl that I remember is Mimi? But then again, why do I feel this way for both of them? I don't even know what this feeling is, it's just a sense of wholeness, like I've found what I've been missing in my life. Wait a minute. . . Isn't that the feeling that people describe when they have found the person that they love? Does this mean that I love Mimi? I don't know. . .' Joe was getting even more confused as time passed, muddling himself up and repeating thoughts until he couldn't think straight anymore.  
  
"What's up Joe? I know that you feel like you have to make a responsible decision and that is what is holding you back, but you have to learn that sometimes you have to make decisions based on what you feel and not just because you feel that it's the most responsible thing to do. I believe that you will find the answer Joe, I know that you will. You just have to rely on your feelings to get you through and you'll find the answer," as quickly as he had come, Gomamon disappeared out of the cottage again, leaving Joe to ponder on his words.  
  
'You're right; I do have to rely on my feelings. I've been trying to hide the fact that I'm in love with Mimi because I thought that everybody would call me irresponsible for loving her. My crest is of Reliability and I know now that I have to rely on my feelings and my instincts as well as my thoughts. Now I just have to find Mimi and tell her what I've been hiding in my heart. . . If I can gather up the courage that is. . .' Joe stood, his crest glowing a bright silver and walked out of the cottage, ready to tell the girl of his dreams what he felt about her. . .  
  
End of Chapter 7  
  
Well, sorry if this chapter was really bad, but I stayed up all of last night at my friend's house, so yeah. I'm kind of dead at the minute. I added Jomi and Taiora to this chapter, well, 1 side to both of those love thingies. I will update again tomorrow as I am starting to get back into this fic after coming up with another idea for another digimon fic, which is Taiora of course! I won't write that fic though until I have finished this one, which will probably be in a couple of days. Please review and tell me what you think about this fic, I really appreciate reviews and people's opinions!! I really do cherish them! Please review! 


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Notes: I don not own Digimon, it isn't mine.  
  
A Different Destiny, Chapter 8  
  
Mimi walked through a field of pink flowers that had just seemed to pop up from in front of her and found a rock the shape of a tear drop.  
  
"This rock looks exactly like my crest," Mimi told Palmon as she studied first the rock and then the green tag around her neck, "I think that I'll sit here to do this." Palmon nodded and started to pick some flowers a few meters away from her partner. Mimi sat down carefully on the rock after making sure that it wasn't too dirty and placed her bag beside her.  
  
'I don't know why I have to go through with this 'finding yourself' thing. I'm always sincere and honest to myself especially. I don't have anything that I'm hiding from myself . . . Wait; does this mean that I have to say things that I'm hiding from other people? Sora did say that we had to tell the people we have to tell things. But how do I tell Joe how I feel about him? I'm twelve for God's sake, how can I tell him that I'm in love with him? I didn't think that it was possible to fall in love when you're twelve . . . but I can't tell him. He'd just laugh at me and say that his secret was that he hated my guts. I can't tell him, he'll just reject me,' Mimi repeated this over and over in her mind, believing that it was the truth. Palmon could see that Mimi was having difficulty with something, so she stopped gathering flowers and went over to her.  
  
"Mimi, what's wrong? It's important that you find all of the secrets that you hold out from where you are hiding them, otherwise you'll explode sometime. I have a feeling that you are afraid that somebody will reject what you want to tell them, but I know that he won't. Joe is a nice guy and he cares for you a lot, I can see that. He won't reject you, so stop worrying about it and tell him!" Mimi stared at her digimon partner in shock.  
  
"How did you know that was what I was worrying about? Is it that obvious?" Palmon quickly shook her head.  
  
"No Mimi, it's just that I know you. I could see that you were worrying about a guy and I knew that it wouldn't be Matt and it definitely wouldn't be Tai as you didn't seem to like him very much. Izzy is also out of the question as you hate computers and T.K is out too because he is too young. So naturally Joe had to be the one that you were thinking of. It was easy," Palmon shrugged and walked away to continue her flower picking. Mimi grabbed her bag and stood, stopping Palmon in her tracks.  
  
"Come on then Palmon, we're going to go and find Joe. You're right and even if you are incorrect about Joe rejecting me, then I can always get over it. . . eventually," they began walking in the direction that Mimi just knew that Joe was in and they hoped that everything would turn out alright.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Kari walked as far away from the castle as she dared to go and stopped at the edge of a rainforest. She didn't go inside as she wanted to stay in the light of the sunshine, but she sat at the edge of it, staring at the lush green trees and plants that grew there. She knew her secret already because she trusted her heart, but she didn't know if it was for real.  
  
'I can't be in love with T.K; it must be a crush or something. I'm only eight years old; I don't think it's possible to fall in love this early. But I suppose T.K is cute and I really care about him. I think that he's about as important to me as Tai is, and Tai's my brother and I love him! Well. . . I don't know what's going on with this, it's too big for me to think about,' she watched as Salamon jumped up into one of the trees that was on the outside of the forest and watched the bird that flew out from the branches.  
  
"What are you looking at Kari? Aren't you supposed to be thinking and searching your heart for secrets?" Kari looked back at the ground, sighing as she did so.  
  
"Do you know anything about love Salamon?" the little puppy-like digimon looked at Kari with her big blue eyes as if Kari were stupid or something.  
  
"Of course I do Kari. It's that emotion that humans have that shows that they care for each other a lot. It's kind of silly if you ask me because everyone cares for each other anyway. I can tell from a mile away that you love T.K, and that is if I was blindfolded," Salamon jumped down from the tree and then jumped straight into another, again frightening the same bird that had flown there before. Kari sighed again before she made up her mind.  
  
"Come on Salamon, we're going to find T.K. I have to tell him that I love him," she called to the digimon who was finding delight in torturing the poor bird, "Although he might not feel the same about me. He's probably going to head back to the barrier, so we'll catch him there." The partners started to head back to where they had left all of the others before, wondering why they had walked so far in the first place.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
T.K didn't really move very far from the shield at all, in fact he was only around the corner. He knew what he wanted to say and to whom he wanted to say it, but he had to wait for her to get back.  
  
"What do you have to think about T.K?" Patamon asked him from his perch on top of T.K's hat as T.K sat down on a rock that he found had found near the shield. He would have stayed in the shield, but he didn't want Matt and Izzy to overhear his conversation with Kari.  
  
"I don't have to think about anything. I know what I have to say and who I have to say it to. I just have to wait for her to get back. I know that she won't be long though," T.K was unperturbed about being so near to the darkness as his soul was always full of hope, which the darkness couldn't defeat easily, "I only hope that we can all tell all of our secrets in time. . ." He trailed off and the partners sat in silence, waiting for the return of the child of Light.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Joe and Gomamon arrived back at the shield of Light to find Matt and Izzy sitting on two rocks, having a conversation. They both looked up as Joe arrived back and smiled.  
  
"You're the first one to come back. Have you finished with this 'thing' that we have to do?" Matt asked him, glancing at Izzy out of the corner of his eye. The two of them had been having a 'chat' about the secrets that they had held in their hearts and they didn't really want to have Joe interrupt them.  
  
"Uh, no actually I'm waiting for somebody. I'll wait over there though, so you two can keep up with your conversation," Joe was very embarrassed as he had walked in on their conversation without even thinking. He hadn't heard what they were talking about though as his mind had been filled with thoughts of Mimi.  
  
"Whew, that was close! I didn't understand a thing that they were talking about, so I'm glad that we got out of there," Gomamon chatted as they went along. They stopped about ten meters away from the barrier and they sat down on a strange rock that seemed to come up out of nowhere.  
  
"I didn't hear a word that they said, I wasn't concentrating," Joe told the digimon abstractedly, his thoughts still on the girl that he had fallen for, "But by the looks on their faces, I'm glad that I didn't." The pair fell silent, each inside their own thoughts. Gomamon was wishing that there was food nearby whilst Joe could only think of Mimi and he was wishing that she would hurry up and get there so he could tell her.  
  
"Hey Joe, isn't that Mimi over there?" Gomamon used his paw to point into the distance, a little to the left of where they were sitting. Joe could see the outline of Mimi with her pink cowboy hat and bag. Palmon was walking with her, her long arms almost reaching the ground whilst she talked to Mimi.  
  
"Yeah, it is," Joe found that he was trembling with nerves, but he ignored it, "O-okay Gomamon, lets go over there and uh, talk to her." Gomamon hid a smile at his partner's behavior. He had expected Joe to be nervous, but he was surprised that Joe was actually shaking. What amazed him the most though was that Joe was really going to go through with telling Mimi how he felt. Gomamon was very proud of the child of Reliability.  
  
"Hey Mimi and Palmon come over here! I wouldn't go back to the barrier yet; Izzy and Matt are talking. I wanted to talk to you anyway!" Joe called, his voice shaking with nervous tension. Mimi and Palmon glanced at each other before changing their direction to go to Joe.  
  
"Palmon, what if he wants to tell me that he hates me?" Mimi asked quietly, fear suddenly gripping her. She didn't want to be told that she was hated by the one person that she loved; she would rather die than be told that. Palmon just smiled at her reassuringly.  
  
"Don't worry Mimi! I'm sure that he cares about you just as deeply as you care for him," Mimi smiled nervously, repeating Palmon's words in her head so she wouldn't just run in the other direction screaming. They approached Joe and Gomamon and Palmon noticed that the seal-like digimon was trying hard not to laugh. Palmon immediately knew that Joe was probably feeling the same way that Mimi was.  
  
"Um. . . Hi Joe! What did you want to tell me?" Mimi managed to keep her voice from trembling, but she didn't know how she did it. Her voice just sounded like its usual cheery self. Joe was silent for a second, trying to put a sentence that would actually make sense. Their two digimon partners quietly walked away from the couple, so quietly that the two humans didn't notice that they were gone.  
  
"Well, uh. . . I just wanted to say . . . um. . . Well, I uh. . ." Mimi held her breath as Joe struggled with his sentence. She didn't know what to expect, but then Joe finished his sentence, "IloveyouMimiandIjustwantedyoutoknowthat."  
  
"What was that Joe? You were talking so fast that I didn't understand," Joe swallowed and tried to make himself slow down as he spoke.  
  
"I-I love you Mimi and I just wanted you to know that," his voice shook as he said this, but he managed to say it at a pace that she could understand. He looked at the ground as soon as he had said it, not wanting to see her reaction. Mimi was stunned. She hadn't really expected him to have said that, but as soon as he did her face lit up with a huge smile.  
  
"Really? I have a confession to make too. I-I was going to come and talk to you because I found that-that I love you and I wanted you to know that too," Joe's head snapped up at her unexpected response to his speech. Mimi was smiling now and as the two realised that their feelings were shared by the other they drew in closer and closer and they finally met in a passionate kiss that they had each wanted to share for a while.  
  
"Well, I guess that they're happy," Palmon remarked to Gomamon, peeking out from behind the rock they were behind, "They both have found true happiness."  
  
"Well, since Joe was a nervous wreck until he told Mimi how he felt, I'm just glad that he didn't faint," the two digimon shared a quiet laugh and then they continued spying on their human partners.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Kari walked back to the shield and saw that Matt and Izzy were deep in conversation and so she went for a walk, knowing that she would bump into T.K. She didn't know how she knew that she would, but somehow her feet led her to the boy. Patamon was sitting on his head and T.K had his back to her. She crept up quietly behind him, but she jumped when he spoke.  
  
"Hey Kari, what's up?" he turned to look at her and Kari felt her heart skip a beat. Salamon whispered something to Patamon and the two digimon left their partners and climbed in the trees instead.  
  
"The sky is up T.K," they both laughed at this joke and then they fell silent for a second, each blushing as they found that they were alone with each other, "T.K, can I ask you something?" He nodded, knowing what she was going to ask and knowing what he was going to answer.  
  
"Yeah, of course you can Kari," the young girl hesitated for a moment after his reply before she asked him.  
  
"Do you know what 'Love' is supposed to be T.K? Like what you are supposed to feel?" Kari looked at the ground before she went on, "I mean, I love my family and my friends, but what about the other type of love?" T.K smiled as he answered, wondering what her reaction would be.  
  
"I know what it is. It's a funny feeling that you get in your heart whenever the one that you love is near. You always feel happy when you think of the person that you love and you just feel good overall whenever you think of them. I know all of this because I-I'm in love with you Kari," the girl was silent for a second, letting all of these thoughts sink in. T.K waited patiently, knowing that it would take a while for her to answer.  
  
"I-I feel that way about you T.K. I know that I love you," she gave him a kiss on the cheek and they both blushed.  
  
"Come on Kari, we'd better go back to the barrier now," he grabbed her hand and they walked back to where Matt and Izzy were waiting. The two had stopped talking now and were sitting close to each other, looking at something on Izzy's computer. Mimi and Joe followed the eight year olds soon after, walking together but not talking. They were both smiling and Kari had the feeling that something had happened between them too.  
  
"Is everyone here now?" Matt asked, getting to his feet. They looked around the group, but there seemed to be someone missing.  
  
"No, Sora's not here," Mimi told them after scanning the group for her auburn-haired friend, "She's probably just going to be another few minutes. She'll be back soon." They all nodded and split into the pairs that they had been in before, talking quietly between themselves, waiting for the digidestined of love to return.  
  
End of Chapter  
  
This is a short chapter I know, but tomorrow I have to go back to school and I just don't feel like writing very much tonight, I'll try and update again tomorrow, but I don't know. You know the drill, review and I'll write another chapter A.S.A.P! Thank you for reading this far! I tried to put romance in this chapter, but I'm hopeless at writing it! Anyway, I'll write again soon! 


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: I do not own Digimon. I dedicate this chapter to all those people out there that support Taiora! We are decreasing in population, but we are still here! Taiora forever!!!  
  
A Different Destiny, Chapter 9  
  
Sora sighed as she realised that she couldn't put it off any longer. She wanted to talk to Tai and tell him how she felt, but she was really nervous about it. She closed her eyes and found that her heart had led her mind to Tai's exact location.  
  
{Tai, is that you?} She asked quietly through her mind, hoping to find Tai at the other end of her conversation.  
  
{Sora, how are you talking in my mind? Or am I just hallucinating things now? But that can't be right because I feel a lot better now. . . I'm really confused!} Tai's voice told her softly, and she was surprised. She had remembered that not everybody could answer telepathically and if that was the case with Tai, he wouldn't have been able to respond to her question. That he had answered meant that he too had the telepathic powers that she had.  
  
{You're not hallucinating, otherwise I would be too. I got told by this mysterious voice how to do this. How are you feeling? You were pretty sick before when we last saw you,} She felt calmer now that she could hear his voice and her nerves disappeared basically altogether. There was a pause as Tai thought about how he could answer.  
  
{I'm fine now, somebody made it so that if all of us digidestined didn't show courage quickly, then I would get sicker and sicker as time went on, until everyone faced their fears. It was Gennai that did that, when he grabbed my necklace and that's why I fell unconscious straight away; because everybody was hiding something because they were scared. Everyone but one person has now gathered their courage and faced whatever it was, and I have a feeling that that person is you, since I know everything that the others said,} Sora was surprised at his knowledge of what was going on as he was in a castle where the darkness was all around him. Yet he managed to survive and sound okay, of which Sora was relieved.  
  
{Well, yeah, I was going to tell you something. . . Um. . . Tai, I want to say that . . .} She paused for a second, taking a deep breath so she would be able to send the thoughts correctly without rushing them, {I-I think that I'm in love with you.} Silence greeted her for a few seconds as Tai seemed to be taking in this news. Her heart sank as she thought that he was gathering up the words to tell her that he didn't feel the same way. Her mind couldn't work and so the silence continued, until finally Tai broke it.  
  
{I-I uh . . . well, I guess that I will tell you that I know that I love you,} Sora wasn't expecting this answer, especially with the way he had started off his sentence. She smiled happily and she felt as though something had been lifted off her shoulders. She didn't know what she would have done if he had said the opposite to what he had, she would have probably died.  
  
{Really? To think that I was scared that you would reject me harshly. I'm so happy now!} Sora could imagine Tai's smile as she squealed this out telepathically and that made her even happier.  
  
{Yes, I really mean what I said. But if I stay here much longer then my mind may be corrupted by the evil spirit that is here. If that happens then you'll have to stay away from me at all costs and so will the others. This spirit is truly evil and will try to use me to find a way to get to all of you guys and to Kari. I'm just warning you that everything might not be okay when you get here,} Tai's voice had turned serious and Sora knew that even if Tai turned evil, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from going to him.  
  
{Well, we had better hurry up and come rescue you then, shouldn't we? I'd better go and then we'll have you out of that castle faster than you can say 'evil spirit.' I'll see you later and then we'll kick some evil spirit's ass!} Sora knew that Tai was laughing and she quickly cut the connection between the two of them so she could hurry back to the others. It had been hours since she had left them and they might be getting worried about her. Biyomon flew quickly to her side and then they quickly ran back to the shield where the others were waiting for them.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Tai laughed at Sora's little joke and then he felt her break off the connection between their two minds. He stopped laughing as he remembered his surroundings once again. The darkness was beginning to get to him and Renamon was already seeming to slump into depression. His arm began to ache again, reminding him that it was injured. He knew everything that was happening in the outside world with the digidestined somehow and that was the only thing that stopped him from slumping down into the depression that the darkness wanted.  
  
'No, that is technically untrue. Sora is the thing that is stopping your depression because you love her so much that whenever you think of her everything doesn't seem so bad. She is your light and she is brightening everything around you,' his thoughts told him and he had to admit that they were right. He decided that he would talk to Rena to try and get darkness off his mind and maybe he could help her to do the same.  
  
"How are you doing Rena?" he asked, hoping to draw out a reply. He was answered with a cold silence and Tai had an uneasy feeling that Rena had been taken by the darkness, "Rena, think of the Princess! Think about how she brings out the light in everything! Think of the sun or the moon or anything that gives out light! Fight the darkness before it takes you over!" All of his shouts had no effect on the digimon and she stayed in her curled position as if she was transfixed on staring at the ground. Tai stood up and tried to move to her, but chains bound him to the ground. After he had started to feel better, a huge digimon had come and chained his arms to the wall behind him and his legs were chained to the floor. This made sure that he was maintaining some sort of contact with the darkness that was trying to penetrate into his mind.  
  
"Come on Rena; don't leave me alone in here! If you yield to the darkness then I'll be left vulnerable to their forces too and your promise to my parents will be broken! You are strong and I know that you can fight the darkness that is within you!" she still didn't move and Tai looked at the ground in defeat before he muttered, "Please Kari, we need your light before the darkness claims us as prizes. Please help us." He suddenly felt really sleepy and he knew that the darkness had finally managed to get past his defenses, "Please Kari, you're our only hope to bring this darkness to rest." He slid down the side of the wall as all of his energy left him and he fell in a slumber filled with nightmares.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
When Sora reached the barrier of light she remembered something that she found odd.  
  
"Hey Kari, didn't you lose your crest before? Everyone lost their crest except for me, so where did your crest come from?" Kari looked up from where she and T.K were sitting and looked at her, puzzled.  
  
"I don't remember. I lost it and then when we were walking near here it just appeared again. Maybe the crests weren't stolen, but maybe they just were absorbed into us or something. Since you were holding onto yours, it couldn't be absorbed maybe. I'm not sure, but is your crest missing now?" Sora looked down and found that her red crest was nowhere to be seen.  
  
"I-It's gone! It was glowing just before when. . . It was glowing and now it's disappeared! You must be right because there was absolutely nobody around when my crest was glowing," Sora's hand automatically went up to find her crest, but it wasn't there of course. Izzy pondered over the problem for a few seconds from his spot beside Matt.  
  
"What Kari says is probably true. The crests were made of something that my lap top couldn't identify; it was like they were made from the thing itself. When I was holding the crest of knowledge I felt like I was holding knowledge in my hand. Did anybody else feel that way?" he asked, actually taking his eyes away from his computer's screen. They all nodded.  
  
"I felt really hopeful when I held my crest," T.K piped up and from his hand there came a yellow glow. When he looked into his hand he saw his crest glowing away and he smiled, "My crest is back and it's glowing! I hope that we find Tai and defeat this evil that is here!" His crest started to glow even brighter and Patamon digivolved into Angemon and then he started to glow again.  
  
"Angemon digivolve to. . . Magnangemon!" In Angemon's place stood an angel with six wings instead of two. His visor had turned purple and he now held a purple sword in his right hand.  
  
"Wow Angemon, you digivolved!" Everyone stared in awe at the beautiful angel that was standing in front of them.  
  
"When I held my crest I felt really knowledgeable and I know that we'll find Tai and defeat this evil!" Izzy's crest turned up in his hand and started glowing a bright purple. Tentomon was enveloped in the glow and he digivolved to Kabuterimon.  
  
"Kabuterimon digivolve to . . . Megakabuterimon!" Megakabuterimon looked like a giant beetle with wings. He was a brownish-orange in colour and he had a huge curved horn on the top of his head.  
  
"When I held my crest I felt really honest and sincere and I sincerely wish that we can defeat our enemies and find Tai," Mimi's fist started to glow green and Palmon did too. She digivolved to Togemon, her giant cactus form.  
  
"Togemon digivolve to. . . Lilymon!" Lilymon was a stunning plant fairy with four delicate wings. She was tiny compared to the other ultimate digimon, but she looked very strong.  
  
"When I touched my crest I felt really reliable. I know that we can rely on our digimon and each other to defeat this evil and find Tai," a silver light shot out from Joe's hand and Gomamon digivolved into Ikkakumon.  
  
"Ikkakumon digivolve to. . . Zudomon!" Zudomon had a humongous grey-brown shell on his back and he held a giant hammer in his right hand. He was the biggest of the ultimate digimon so far.  
  
"My crest gave me the feeling of friendship; it is a feeling after all. I know that as friends we will destroy the evil together and we will get back our friend as friendship is strong," Gabumon was covered in a light blue light and he digivolved to Garurumon.  
  
"Garurumon digivolve to. . . Weregarurumon!" He stood up on his hind legs and grew blue pants. A brown leather strap stretched from his right shoulder down to his left hip, studded with metal circles.  
  
"I felt the light of the world in my hands and I know that this light will lighten up the darkness and send it away. The light will help my brother too!" Salamon digivolved to Gatomon and then she disappeared for a moment in the pink light from Kari's crest.  
  
"Gatomon digivolve to. . . Angewomon!" A female version of Angemon stood in Gatomon's place. She had a bow and a quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder and the top of her face was covered in a metal mask.  
  
"I felt the love of the world wash over me when I held my crest. Love fights the darkness and it will help us win our fight. We will defeat the darkness and we will find Tai!" Sora felt her crest appear in her hand and then Biyomon digivolved to Birdramon in the red glow.  
  
"Birdramon digivolve to. . . Garudamon!" Birdramon grew into a huge bird that was colossal in size. She was basically the same colour but she had strange white marking on her.  
  
"Prodigious! All of our digimon digivolved in response to what we said! That is something in itself!" Izzy exclaimed in wonder, staring up at all of the ultimate digimon, "Now let's get in there and fight this evil thingy!" They all cheered at Izzy's words and Sora spoke up.  
  
"I know where the entrance to this place is, but first I have to tell you something. Tai told me to tell you guys that if the darkness managed to take over his mind, we all have to stay away from him. So if anything out of the ordinary happens, then we have to make sure that we watch out for Tai to make sure that he isn't influenced by the darkness," she told them seriously before turning to lead them to the entrance.  
  
"How on Earth did Tai tell you that? You didn't go into the castle when you were thinking to yourself did you?" Matt asked carefully, his voice teetering on the edge of being angry, "If you did then it was very dangerous to do that!" Sora shook her head, but kept on walking.  
  
"Nope, I went to a lake and sat there. But I still have my telepathic powers and Tai has them too, because he managed to answer me when I spoke to him. He told me then," they came to a spot in the wall that looked no different to any other part of the wall. Sora put her hand up to it and reached out, feeling for a small chip in the darkness. She managed to find it after searching quietly for a few moments.  
  
"What are you do-" Joe cut off as a big hole appeared in the wall that was big enough for all of them to go through. Sora just looked at him over her shoulder before they all began walking into the castle. . .  
  
End of Chapter 9  
  
This sounded like a good place to finish this chapter. I'm sorry for the slow updates, but I'm back at school and my teachers are loading me with homework again and I only started on Tuesday! Anyway, in the last chapter with Matt and Izzy talking, they could be talking about anything. It could even be Yamashiro if you really want. It can be anything! Anyway, the site is down at the minute and that's really annoying, so I'll have to wait to post this up. If I have time I'll write another chapter whilst I'm waiting. Please review! Please!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: I do not own Digimon  
  
A Different Destiny, Chapter 10  
  
Tai was floating in a formless place that was filled with darkness. He was trapped there, unable to go more than four steps across the seemingly endless darkness. The most frustrating thing about being trapped there was that he had no control over what his body was doing. And he could see that. There was a giant screen on one side of the place he was trapped in which showed what his eyes could see. In other words, the darkness had trapped Tai's conscious thoughts at the back of his own mind. He watched through the screen as he walked down a long dark hallway with Renamon at his side. They were being led by what seemed to be an extremely large bat.  
  
"NO! What am I doing, siding with these evil beings? I am the Prince of the Digital World and I believe in what is good and true. The digidestined are the people that I should be siding with, I should be fighting these shadows, not joining them!" he managed to reclaim control of himself for two seconds, but then the darkness seized him again and threw him back to his cell at the back of his mind.  
  
"Are you alright Prince of Darkness?" the bat asked him, bowing its head a little as it did so. Tai's dark self just waved his hand as if to dismiss it.  
  
"I'm fine, just a little problem that I took care of easily," Dark Tai's voice was cold and harsh as he spoke to the bat like it was just a speck of dirt that he was walking on. Rena laughed.  
  
"I know what you mean Prince. They like to put up a fight, don't they? It's pointless and yet they still try and regain control," the two of them laughed cruelly and the bat just shuddered at the sound of their cruel delight. He continued to lead them down the corridor until they reached a series of three doors. He opened the door in the center for them and they went through it without even acknowledging his presence. The good Tai tried again to regain himself.  
  
"Kari, you've got to help me! The light always defeats the darkness! Please lend me some of your light so that I can fight this darkness that has completely taken over my mind!" he pleaded, but his plea was just rebounded by the stifling shadows in his mind. He sighed and sank back to the ground, knowing that it was hopeless. But he also knew that he couldn't give up. He watched where they were going through the screen and his eyes widened as he saw who his enemy was. . .  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Kari huddled closer to T.K as they wandered around inside the Castle.  
  
"Something isn't right. . . Tai's in trouble somewhere, I know he is! There is something that is really wrong about this place. It's like the darkness is waiting for us to come, waiting for us to make a mistake or reach a certain place. We're in trouble. I know that we are!" Kari kept close to T.K, feeling a tiny bit comforted just by his presence. She knew that they would have to stick together if they were going to get out of there alive and well.  
  
"I know that there is definitely something wrong here. Everything is dark and it seems that the path we have to take is filled with shadows that are making fun of us as we speak. This place is filled with hate," Sora agreed, eyeing the shadows that managed to show up on the dark walls of the castle, silently praying to God that they would escape unharmed.  
  
"I see that you have finally arrived here. You sure took your time about it," the digidestined all quickly turned their heads at the sound of a dull but cruel voice coming from their right. They hadn't even seen the staircase that the figure was coming down; the darkness covered it too much. The voice was male and it was hauntingly familiar to the seven children.  
  
"I wouldn't get too comfortable whilst you are here though, because you won't be staying long," this female voice came from the same area as the male's voice and they could barely see two figures, one human and one digimon, standing at the top of a staircase. The female's voice was deep and filled with hate, but in a way it was also familiar. The digidestined unconsciously moved closer together, shuddering at the cruelty present in the voices. They were afraid; for some reason they had lost all of their courage.  
  
"W-Who are you?" Matt yelled towards the two silhouettes of the figures, hoping that they were in front of him, not behind him. He was wishing that Tai would show up so that he wouldn't have to face the figures as the leader; he wanted to have his friends around him and he wanted to work with his friends, not lead them.  
  
"I thought that you guys would know, but I guess. . ." the voice trailed off and they watched as one of the silhouettes doubled over, whether in pain or something else they could not tell, but the figure was shaking it's head as though trying to dispel something. Then a new voice, a warm and familiar voice flowed down towards them urgently, "You have to get out of here guys, it's not safe! They've managed to take over Rena's mind and mine also, though I can control it sometimes. You have to get out of. . ." Tai's voice trailed off and the human figure stood upright again. The hearts of the digidestined sank as they realised that they were going to have to go against Tai.  
  
"How are we supposed to fight against Tai and Rena?" Kari asked her voice quiet and she sounded like she was almost about to cry. Sora didn't blame her. After all, Tai was Kari's brother and Rena had looked after her as a baby, so of course she would feel sad. Sora felt tears creep up into her own eyes and she tried to blink them away. Tai, her best friend from when she was six and the guy that she was in love with, was fighting a long battle against the darkness that she couldn't help him with and if he lost then she would be forced to fight him. A single tear slipped down her cheek and she wiped it away quickly, before anybody else could see it.  
  
"We won't have to Kari, and we wouldn't anyway," T.K reassured her, squeezing her hand comfortingly, "Just because the darkness has taken over their minds for now doesn't mean that they're gone forever."  
  
"Don't give up Tai; you have to keep on fighting the darkness!" Sora called to him desperately, hoping that he would be able to hear her somewhere, "You too Rena! I believe that you can do it!" her words seemed to have no affect on Rena, but once again there was a change in the human figure. The dark light in the hall brightened suddenly and the digidestined could actually see the figures standing at the top of a staircase, instead of just their silhouettes. Tai's eyes were dull and blank, as though something was shielding him from himself. Sora assumed that that was the darkness that was keeping the real Tai away from them. Rena's eyes were also dull, as she was under the same treatment as Tai was. Sora saw that in Tai's eyes there would be sudden flecks of warmth, as though the real Tai was beating the dark Tai, but then his eyes would go back to the dull colour that symbolized the darkness.  
  
"Please Rena, please don't hurt us! I don't want to fight you, you're my friend! Remember us please, and remember your promise to my parents, please Rena, I know you can do it!" the light of Kari's crest began to glow again and the glow surrounded the digimon nurse and Tai. The glow surrounded them for a minute before it disappeared. As the light left them, the two figures fell to the ground, unable to support themselves after all of the energy they had used up in trying to fight the darkness. Joe rushed over to them to check that they were okay.  
  
"Are they alright Joe?" Izzy asked the aspiring doctor, watching as the boy checked the pulse and breathing of his two 'patients'.  
  
"Yeah, they'll be fine. They're just unconscious, probably because they used up all of their energy in their fight against the darkness. They'll wake up soon," his words were punctuated with a small groan of pain from Tai before the thirteen year old opened his eyes and blinked, taken aback by the sight of the rest of the digidestined leaning over him.  
  
"Uh . . . hi guys! What happened back there?" he asked as he sat up slowly, being careful not to bang his right arm against anything. It was still aching from the huge cut that stretched down it.  
  
"Well, Kari told Rena to remember things and then her crest lit up and sent light towards the two of you. Then you were freed from the darkness and you fell unconscious for a few seconds, and now you're up and we're talking to you," Matt told him quietly, relieved that he was awake. Agumon came up beside Tai and glared at him.  
  
"Next time you get taken away, TELL ME! You know very well that you're supposed to contact me when you're in danger, so why didn't you?" Tai leaned forward and whispered something to the small dinosaur digimon, who nodded and smiled at what Tai told him.  
  
"Ah, I see. Maybe I was a bit too hasty to make my judgment," Agumon admitted, after hearing what Tai whispered to him. He looked from Joe to Mimi, then from Kari to T.K, then from Matt to Izzy and then he finally looked from Sora to Tai, "You were right then Tai. I see that now." Tai smiled and slowly got to his feet, his energy having been recovered somehow. Rena also stirred, but continued to sleep, needing to get her energy levels higher.  
  
"I see that you have been freed Digital Prince, but that it of no consequence. You will be defeated now, as will your digidestined friends. Then nothing shall stand in my way for taking over the digital world," the digidestined's gaze snapped towards the bottom of the staircase, where Gennai stood. Behind him was a huge digimon that was completely black. The base of the digimon was a huge box and on it was a figure that looked to be almost human. He was attached to the box by two pipes and he looked very angry. It was he would had spoken, "I am Apocalymon and I am going to be the master of the digital world! Now my servants, defeat them!" Gennai stepped forward and on either side of him were two bat digimon.  
  
"Come on guys, let's get them!" Zudomon called to his friends and they immediately split into three groups. Zudomon and Lilymon attacked the bat digimon that Izzy called a DemiDevimon, the one that was on Gennai's left, whilst Magnangemon and Angewomon attacked the other one. That left Megakabuterimon, Weregarurumon, Garudamon and Agumon to fight Gennai.  
  
"Come on Agumon, digivolve!" Tai called to his digimon partner and the orange glow surrounded Agumon again.  
  
"Agumon digivolve to . . . Greymon! Greymon digivolve to . . . Metalgreymon!" the group of four digimon rushed to attack Gennai, who easily dodged their attempts to pin him down.  
  
"Wing Blade!" Garudamon let her attack go, aiming for the ground in front of Gennai. It ripped the ground open in front of him, causing him to trip before he could reach the children.  
  
"Mega Electro Shocker!"  
  
"Missile Blaster!" (Sorry, I've forgotten Metalgreymon's attack)  
  
"Garuru Kick!" the three digimon launched their attacks at the same time, but even all of this power didn't seem to make a scratch on Gennai. Soon though, all eight digimon were against Gennai, as the two DemiDevimons hadn't been that hard to defeat.  
  
"You digidestined will never defeat me! You are not united towards a common goal; you are all over the place! You will suffer from the power of my wrath!" Gennai laughed manically and Tai smirked at him.  
  
"At the moment we DO have a common goal and that is to destroy you!" All eight of the digidestined digimon surrounded Gennai and charged up their attacks.  
  
"NOW!" Metalgreymon called and they all let their attacks loose. They connected with their target and Gennai screamed in pain before he burst into million upon millions of pieces of data. Tai covered Kari's eyes and Matt did the same to T.K. They didn't want the youngsters to see what was going on.  
  
"You digidestined are actually quite good. You managed to destroy my servants, but you won't defeat me!" Apocalymon sent a claw attack straight at Tai, who only just managed to get out of the way before it went straight through him.  
  
"We'd better watch out guys, we don't know what this guy is capable of. Metalgreymon, you'll have to digivolve again. Apocalymon seems to be too tough to handle in only your ultimate form," his digimon nodded at Tai's instructions and the other digidestined watched as Metalgreymon transformed in a ray of orange light.  
  
"Metalgreymon digivolve to . . . Wargreymon!" Tai felt weak again and he knew that he had used up a lot of energy making Metalgreymon digivolve, but he also knew that he had to. He leaned back slightly against the rail that trailed all of the way down the stairs, hoping that none of the digidestined would see that he was almost out of energy. Wargreymon and the other digimon surrounded Apocalymon, ready to attack.  
  
"You digidestined will never defeat me because I know of something that was in your past and soon you will all know it too. Using this I will rule the world!" Apocalymon laughed insanely and all of the digidestined felt a chill go down their backs . . .  
  
End of Chapter 10  
  
Sorry this is short, but this story is getting harder and harder to write, but I'll finish it. I'm going to finish my other fic too. Don't worry, I'll write another chapter of this fic after I finish my Geography project on the weekend *shudders* Now I remember why I am dropping Geography as soon as I can. . . Anyway, please review, even though this chapter was short and really stupid as I can't describe battles really well. Please review! 


	11. Chapter 11

Litanya: I do not own digimon, nor do I claim to.  
  
Tai: You're really not in a very good mood at the moment, are you?  
  
Litanya: No, I'm not. I'm sick of this fic and I want to start a new one, but I can't until this fic is finished, as well as my other one. It sucks.  
  
Tai: Well, this is the last chapter isn't it?  
  
Litanya: Yes it is and I am sorry if it sucks, I'm sick with the flu at the moment and I'm also in a bad mood, as stated above. I am very sorry if this is bad. Remember, Taiora forever!  
  
A Different Destiny, Chapter 11  
  
"I don't know what you mean, but we will fight you to save our world, and to get rid of evil forever! Nothing from the past will change our minds!" Tai shouted back at Apocalymon determinedly, ignoring the chill that was going down his back. He had no idea what the evil digimon was talking about, but it sounded bad.  
  
"Yeah, we will defeat you! We are a team and we haven't given up so far! Nothing that you say will split us apart!" Sora called, drawing her courage from Tai. Now that he was by her side she would never give up until everything was okay again in the world.  
  
"Those are courageous words, digidestined. Courageous and foolish! I am invincible and the past will be your downfall! I will tell you only one thing and that is . . . the Prince of the digital world is dead, even as he stands in front of us! Each one of you killed him in your own way years ago. The digidestined of Reliability was his only real friend and yet he left the Prince all alone one day, which proved to be a mistake. The digidestined of Love was near by, but she decided to go in the other direction and so missed meeting the Prince and therefore she missed stopping the killer from getting to the Prince. Sincerity, Hope, Light and Knowledge all did something similar, but the digidestined of Friendship was the one that killed the Prince . . . literally!" everyone except for Tai and Matt gasped in surprise and horror. They couldn't believe what Apocalymon was saying and yet they believed him deep down.  
  
"Is it true? Did that really happen?" Mimi called out to Tai, leaning against Joe as she almost fell over with her shock. Tai looked over at Matt and their eyes locked for a second, before he looked away.  
  
"I guess that you could say that it is partly true, but Apocalymon got it wrong. This is what happened. . ."  
  
~FLASHBACK~  
  
A four year old Taichi and five year old Joe were creeping through the forest, watching out keenly for Renamon. The two young boys didn't want to be caught by the guardian and get punished for running away. They were deep in the forest, near the tree that bore all of the fruit.  
  
"Where is this tree Taichi?" Joe's voice was filled with worry and he kept on glancing over his shoulder to make sure that Renamon wasn't following them. Gomamon and Agumon were back at the castle, in training for looking over the two boys. Renamon was the only digimon that was supposed to be in charge of them, and they had lost her when Hikari had started crying. Taichi had immediately grabbed Joe and the two of them had run off into the forest. Now they were looking for the fruit tree that Tai wanted to climb.  
  
"It can't be very far away now, I know it! It's just a little further, we'll be there soon," it was obvious that the young Prince was the bravest out of the two boys as he lead the way proudly, not looking over his shoulder once.  
  
"Tai, that's what you said ten minutes ago! Wait a minute, I have to go! I have my doctor's appointment in half an hour and so we'd better turn back now if we're going to make it back in time!" Joe made as if to turn back, but Tai just carried on going.  
  
"You can go back, but I'm so close! I'll see you tomorrow Joe!" before the older child could say another word the young Prince took off at a run, and he had soon disappeared in the wild growth of the forest. Joe knew that he had no chance of catching the younger boy, so he turned back home with a defeated sigh, hoping that the little Prince would be okay.  
  
Tai ran on and on until at last he reached the fruit tree that had been his goal the whole time.  
  
"There you are fruit tree! I knew that you were here!" he gleefully ran to the trunk of the great tree and began to methodically climb, ignoring the scratches that he was receiving on the way. He climbed successfully up to the top of the tree and he sat and admired the view for a second, before he got bored. He climbed down the tree quickly, already bored of his adventure. He sat down at the bottom of the tree, thinking of what he could do. Whilst he was sitting at the trunk of the tree, he saw a flash of blonde hair go past, before a boy about his age appeared. He had blonde hair and icy blue eyes that made Tai feel a little freaked out.  
  
"Who are you?" Tai asked, curious as to where the new boy came from. The blonde haired boy didn't answer; instead he just pulled up a crossbow from behind his back. The Prince instantly froze; he knew that the crossbow could hurt people and Tai hated weapons.  
  
"Don't move young Prince, or I'll shoot this at you," despite Matt's warning Tai moved, more out of defiance than anything else. He knew by instinct that Matt would shoot him anyway, so he decided that at least he would get hurt defying the boy. As soon as Tai moved the arrow shot from the crossbow and hit the young Prince in the chest, causing him to go flying backwards. Matt then dropped the crossbow and ran, before collapsing unconscious a long way from where Tai still lay. . .  
  
~END OF FLASHBACK~  
  
"But this is where Apocalymon is wrong. I never died, dead people can't *really* exist like I exist, I'm alive. Rena found me not too long after that and she managed to get me to a doctor. Apocalymon is also wrong about another thing; Matt never came close to killing me, it was Gennai. He was able to change his shape and he changed into Matt for some strange reason. Therefore, nothing from the past is keeping us apart. You thought that I would think that it was Matt, but I knew that it wasn't," Tai finished his story and then everybody realised that Apocalymon was trying to trick them into disliking each other.  
  
"What! I was told that you had died! I was wondering what you were still doing alive, but I just put it down to fate as an Angel or something," Apocalymon then swore under his breath to himself and Tai grinned.  
  
"NOW Wargreymon!" the digimon let off his attack, which he had been charging behind Apocalymon's back. The other digimon let off all of their powerful attacks too and Apocalymon barely had time to scream before he was deleted into a million tiny parts of data. As soon as he disappeared Tai slid the whole way down the wall, all of his energy spent. Wargreymon de- digivolved back down into Koromon and he bounded over to his partner.  
  
"Are you alright Tai?" the small head asked, knowing that Tai had used up too much energy. Tai nodded, unable to speak. Sora ran over and crouched down next to Tai.  
  
"Are you okay Tai?" she asked, concern for him showing all over her face. Tai smiled, feeling suddenly better.  
  
"I am now," he told her, smiling.  
  
"Then let's get out of here! We need to get back home and tell our parents that it is okay to live here again!" Joe cried, getting everybody moving.  
  
"Yeah, let's go!" Tai got up and they all left the digital world, only to come back later on to live.  
  
The End  
  
Okay, this chapter officially sucks and it's awful, but it's the only thing that I could think of. Flame me if you wish; I don't really care because I hate the ending to this fic too. It ended Taiora, of course and Jomi and Takari, but that was obvious. You could even make it a Yamashiro if you really want to. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this fic; I enjoyed writing it until this chapter, but anyway, I have enjoyed the ride of this fic, and I hope you have to. Keep a look out for my other fics, I'm still writing others with enthusiasm. 


	12. Epilogue

Litanya: I know that I ended this fic a bit too quickly, so I have decided, on command, to write an epilogue to this fic so then it will have ended with less confusion.  
  
Tai: In other words, she was told to write it!  
  
Litanya: Yes, that is true. A huge thank you goes to Sora_Kamiya01 for her encouraging advice, as well as to Agumon2003 (Dawn) for her support throughout this fic. Thank you also to ALL of my reviewers, I really need to thank you guys, you are the greatest!  
  
Tai: Yes, thank you because without you I would have probably died a horrible death because Litanya would have been frustrated. . .  
  
Litanya: I AM still writing the fic, I could decide to do that. . .  
  
Tai: EEP! Litanya does not own Digimon. *Runs out of the door to Litanya's room*  
  
Litanya: Enjoy!  
  
A Different Destiny, Epilogue  
  
An eighteen year old boy with short messy brown hair and chocolate brown eyes stood anxiously staring out of the window of the castle. A tall youth the same age as the Prince appeared through the doorway.  
  
"You nervous Tai?" the Prince turned at Matt's words and gave him a pointed look.  
  
"No, I'm not nervous," Tai told his friends sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "I'm just getting married to the girl of my dreams and being pronounced King of the Digital World, but I'm not nervous." Matt laughed and crossed to the room to the Prince. He put his hand on his shoulder as if he was going to give him some useful advice.  
  
"It's not that bad Tai, I mean, everybody keeps on telling you how nervous you're supposed to be and everything, but when it comes down to it you'll forget about everybody else and you'll only think of Sora. Trust me, when Melissa and I were married last month I was really nervous, until I saw Melissa. You may be nervous now, but you'll get over it when you see Sora," Tai smiled as he saw that Matt was reading from a card that he had hidden in his hand. Tai could see Melissa's writing on the card and he knew that she had been the one to send Matt to try and calm him down.  
  
"Yeah, I sure that is true. Thanks Matt," in one quick gesture Tai removed the card from Matt's hand and tore it up, "it was a nice speech anyway." Matt just grinned, shrugging.  
  
"Melissa thought you needed a talk to calm you down. She wrote that for me, but it really is true. She only wrote it because I can't read my own writing," Tai shook his head and wondered how Matt had ever graduated from school. After they had defeated Apocalymon the digidestined had returned home and they had spoken to their parents about the digital world. Amazingly all of them had been born in the Digital World, but they had been forced to move away for some reason or another. Joe's family was the only one that had still been in the Digital World when the King and Queen had been murdered and most of the others had moved out before Tai had been born. Once the children had told the adults that it was safe to live in the Digital World, they had decided to move back to the world that they were born in. The children had still been able to get an education, thanks to Rena and some other loyal digimon that had been tutors to children before the big adventure had begun. Even though Matt had graduated from the tutors, Tai still doubted whether or not the young man could actually write anything down properly.  
  
"Thanks, I guess I appreciate the thought, though I didn't really need it. I am the digidestined of Courage after all," Tai grinned, hoping to fool Matt into believing that he wasn't nervous, but he failed.  
  
"Yeah, and I happen to be the digidestined of Friendship, and I can tell when my friends are lying, to a certain extent," Matt picked up the torn card and began ripping it into smaller pieces, knowing that Melissa would kill him if he didn't manage to calm Tai down, "Just think that once today is over you'll never have to go through it again. It's just one day, so calm down!" Tai started to pace around the room, ignoring Matt completely. He and Sora were not the first to be married out of the digidestined. Mimi and Joe had been married first, and then Matt and Melissa had married. Izzy and Naoko were planning on marrying the next year and T.K and Kari were too young to be married, at age fourteen, but they were going to be married when they turned eighteen.  
  
"I am calm," Tai continued to pace though, up and down the room, making Matt a little dizzy, "I am calm, it's just that I am nervous at the same time! I know that everything is going to be okay, it's just that I am nervous, that's all." Matt rolled his eyes, hoping that he hadn't been acting as bad as Tai was on his wedding day.  
  
"Whatever, all I know is that I'm glad that I didn't act this nervous," Tai stopped pacing and laughed at Matt, distinctly remembering Matt's wedding day the month before.  
  
"What do you mean? Izzy, Joe and I all had to almost nail you down to the floor before your wedding, you kept on trying to pace up and down even when you were waiting for Melissa to go up the isle!" Matt turned red, only then remembering that he had been acting worse than his best friend was acting now.  
  
"Well, you won't be that bad, but that's because you are the bearer of the crest of Courage and yet you are still this nervous. I don't have as much courage as you have, so of course I'd be more nervous than you!" Matt was quick to explain away his nervousness, embarrassed that Tai had remembered. Tai just laughed and shook his head, conscious of the fact that Matt was embarrassed and found that his own nerves were starting to disappear. Whilst he was laughing at Matt, Izzy and Joe entered the room, grinning as they saw what was going on.  
  
"It's good to see that you're not nervous Tai. It's time for you to go down there now," they almost pulled him out of the room and now he was EXTREMELY nervous. He knew that he was doing the right thing though, so he didn't try and stop them from pulling him down to the alter, where he had to wait for Sora. He only hoped that she wouldn't leave him standing there.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Tai had nothing to worry about as Sora didn't leave him standing there and the ceremony went off without a hitch. All of the digidestined made sure that nothing happened to affect the ceremony and then after the wedding it was the crowning ceremony. Tai and Sora were crowned the King and Queen of the Digital World and everybody hoped that they would continue to rule in peace over the Digital World for a long, long time.  
  
The End  
  
There, I hope that that made the ending a little better. It's now up to you readers to see whether the couples had children and who they were, I may write a sequel sometime if I ever get bored, but I doubt that I will write one soon if I write one. Thank you for sticking with this fic for so long, it took me eight weeks to write it, I figured it out. Please read my other fics, especially if you love Taiora as much as I do! Anyway, I'm going to try and finish another chapter of 'Not Only in Heaven' so I hope you have a good day or night or whatever! See you later! 


End file.
